The purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationship among child temperament, mother's child-rearing behavior, child’s self-regulation and preschool adjustment for children aged 3,4,5 years, and to analyze the direct and indirect eff...
The purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationship among child temperament, mother's child-rearing behavior, child’s self-regulation and preschool adjustment for children aged 3,4,5 years, and to analyze the direct and indirect effects of each variable by applying structural equation mode(SEM).
The research questions for this are as follows.
1. What is the structural relationship among child’s temperament, mother’s child-rearing behavior, child’s self-regulation, and preschool adjustment?
1-1. What are the direct and indirect effects of child's temperament, mother's child-rearing behavior, and child's self-regulation on preschool adjustment?
1-2. What is the mediating effect of child's self-regulation between child’s temperament, mother's child-rearing behavior and child’s preschool adjustment?
The data used in the analysis of this study collected from 443 preschoolers in the five preschools located in Busan and Gyeonsangnam-do. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS Version 23.0 and SPSS AMOS Version 22.0 statistical programs as follows. The reliability of the research scales were verified and descriptive statistical analysis was conducted. Multivariate normality was confirmed and Pearson's correlation analysis was performed. The parameters were estimated using the Maximum Likelihood Estimation Method to confirm normal distribution. The structural equation model(SEM) was conducted to investigate the direct and indirect effects of child’s temperament, child’self-regulation and mothers’child-rearing behavior on preschool adjustment. Bootstrapping method is used to analyze direct and indirect effects among variables.
The main conclusions presented in this study are as follows.
First, the direct effects of sociality and child’s self-regulation on preschool adjustment were found. The negative emotionality, activity, and mother's child-rearing behavior did not have a direct effect on the preschool adjustment.
Second, the child’s self-regulation played a mediating role between the preschool adjustment, child’s temperament, and the mother’s child-rearing behavior. The child’s temperament and mother's child-rearing behavior had a direct effect on self-regulation and had an indirect effect on preschool adjustment through child’s self-regulation.
Third, the most influential factor on preschool adjustment was child’s self-regulation.
This study is different from previous studies in that it examined the structural relationship among preschool adjustment, child’s temperament, mother’s child-rearing behavior, and child’s self-regulation and at the same time, measured the causal relationship.
It is meaningful to find out the direct and indirect path of each variable and to help concrete understanding of preschool adjustment.