The purpose of this study is to determine relations between mothers' verbal control styles and young children's self-control and problem behavior. First, How do mothers' verbal control styles vary by their relevant variables (occupation, age, educatio...
The purpose of this study is to determine relations between mothers' verbal control styles and young children's self-control and problem behavior. First, How do mothers' verbal control styles vary by their relevant variables (occupation, age, educational background)? Second, How do young children's self-control and problem behavior vary by their age and gender? Third, How do young children's self-control vary by mothers' verbal control styles? Fourth, How do young children's problem behavior vary by mothers' verbal control styles? Fifth, What relations exist between mothers' verbal control styles and young children's self-control and problem behavior?
This study was conducted with 348 children aged three to five, 348 mothers, and 23 teachers at five kindergartens in Gyeonggi Province. It used the verbal control style scale for mothers, young children's self-control evaluation scale for teachers, and children's behavior evaluation scale for teachers. The collected data went through statistical processing by using an SPSS WIN 12.0 program to carry out reliability test, frequency test, the mean, standard deviation, t-test, one-way ANOVA, correlation analysis, and Scheffé
test.
The main results of this study are as follows: First, as for mothers' relevant variables (mothers' occupation, age, educational background), there were differences in mothers' verbal control styles by their educational background alone. Second, there were differences in young children's self-control and problem behavior by their age and gender. In terms of young children's age, the sub-factor of self-control, controllability, was higher in five-year-olds than in three- or four-year-olds, and the sub-factor of problem behavior, withdrawal and aggressive behavior, was higher in four-year-olds than in three- or five-year-olds. In terms of young children's gender, the sub-factor of self-control, controllability, was higher among girls, while impulsivity was higher among boys; the sub-factor of problem behavior, aggressive and withdrawal behavior, was higher among boys. Third, there were differences in young children's self-control by mothers' verbal control styles. The sub-factor of self-control, controllability, was higher among young children when mothers' verbal control was commanding than when it was leading or affectionate. Fourth, there were differences in young children's problem behavior by mothers' verbal control styles. Those sub-factors of problem behavior, withdrawal and immaturity, among children were higher when mothers' verbal control was commanding. Fifth, there was significant correlation between mothers' verbal control styles and young children's self-control and problem behavior.