Mindfulness in Marriage and Mindfulness in Parenting as Predictors of Social Skills in Early Childhood

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between children's social skills in early childhood, mindfulness in parenting, and mindfulness in marriage. The research was conducted based on the correlational survey model. The participants are 279 parents with children aged 3-7 years. The instruments that used for data collection were the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale (PKBS-2), Mindfulness in Marriage Scale (MMS), Mindfulness in Parenting Questionnaire (MPQ) and Personal Information Form. Independent samples t-test, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The results show that mindfulness in marriage and mindfulness in parenting have a positive and significant relationship with social skills in early childhood. According to the results of the regression analysis, mindfulness in marriage and mindfulness in parenting are significant predictors of children’s social skills. The regression model has explained 27% of social skills. The research findings were discussed in light of the literature.

[1]  P. Kaminski,et al.  The Executive Subsystem in Middle Childhood: Adult Mental Health, Marital Satisfaction, and Secure‐Base Parenting , 2020 .

[2]  Liuhua Ying,et al.  Parental Mindfulness and Preschool Children’s Emotion Regulation: the Role of Mindful Parenting and Secure Parent-Child Attachment , 2019, Mindfulness.

[3]  R. Lucas-Thompson,et al.  Mindfulness Interventions to Reduce Impact of Interparental Conflict on Adolescents , 2019, Journal of Child and Family Studies.

[4]  Nirbhay N. Singh,et al.  Parent Mindfulness, Parenting, and Child Psychopathology in China , 2019, Mindfulness.

[5]  Hatice Odaci,et al.  Sosyal Beceri Eğitiminin Ortaokul Öğrencilerinin Boyun Eğici Davranışları Üzerine Etkisi , 2019, İlköğretim Online.

[6]  Xin Xuan,et al.  The relationship between parental conflict and preschool children's behavior problems: A moderated mediation model of parenting stress and child emotionality , 2018, Children and Youth Services Review.

[7]  L. King,et al.  Interpersonal Mindfulness: Scale Development and Initial Construct Validation , 2018, Mindfulness.

[8]  R. Forehand,et al.  Mindful Parenting and Emotion Socialization Practices: Concurrent and Longitudinal Associations. , 2018, Family process.

[9]  Junhao Pan,et al.  The Indirect Path From Mindful Parenting to Emotional Problems in Adolescents: The Role of Maternal Warmth and Adolescents’ Mindfulness , 2018, Front. Psychol..

[10]  H. Moreira,et al.  The Association Between Self-Critical Rumination and Parenting Stress: The Mediating Role of Mindful Parenting , 2018 .

[11]  Sterett H. Mercer,et al.  Moderators of the Relations Between Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parenting Practices and Children’s Prosocial Behavior , 2017, Child psychiatry and human development.

[12]  S. Bögels,et al.  Mindful with Your Baby: Feasibility, Acceptability, and Effects of a Mindful Parenting Group Training for Mothers and Their Babies in a Mental Health Context , 2017, Mindfulness.

[13]  E. Yilmaz,et al.  The Relationship between Maternal Acceptance-Rejection Levels and Preschoolers’ Social Competence and Emotion Regulation Skills , 2017 .

[14]  Linda Bakken,et al.  Early Childhood Education: The Long-Term Benefits , 2017 .

[15]  Marijke A. K. A. Braeken,et al.  Potential benefits of mindfulness during pregnancy on maternal autonomic nervous system function and infant development. , 2017, Psychophysiology.

[16]  D. Reitman,et al.  Mindfulness In Parenting Questionnaire (MIPQ): Development and Validation of a Measure of Mindful Parenting , 2017 .

[17]  T. Katsura,et al.  Marital relationship, parenting practices, and social skills development in preschool children , 2017, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.

[18]  Carolina Corthorn,et al.  Mindfulness and Parenting: A Correlational Study of Non-meditating Mothers of Preschool Children , 2016 .

[19]  H. Moreira,et al.  Self-Compassion and Dispositional Mindfulness Are Associated with Parenting Styles and Parenting Stress: the Mediating Role of Mindful Parenting , 2016 .

[20]  Angela F. Y. Siu,et al.  Maternal Mindfulness and Child Social Behavior: the Mediating Role of the Mother-Child Relationship , 2016 .

[21]  A. Abdollahi,et al.  How marital relations affect child behavior: review of recent research , 2015 .

[22]  Sylia Wilson,et al.  Marital Quality Spillover and Young Children's Adjustment: Evidence for Dyadic and Triadic Parenting as Mechanisms , 2015, Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53.

[23]  G. Akduman.  Okul Öncesi Dönem Çocukların Sosyal Beceri Düzeyleri ile Davranış Problemleri Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi , 2015 .

[24]  B. V. D. Bergh,et al.  Maternal mindfulness during pregnancy and infant socio-emotional development and temperament: the mediating role of maternal anxiety. , 2015, Early human development.

[25]  J. Sherblom,et al.  The relationship of hope to self-compassion, relational social skill, communication apprehension, and life satisfaction , 2014 .

[26]  Hatice Yalçın,et al.  60-72 Aylık Çocukların Türkçe Dil Kullanımı Düzeyleri Ve Etki Eden Faktörlerin İncelenmesi , 2014 .

[27]  Y. Ziv.  Social information processing patterns, social skills, and school readiness in preschool children. , 2013, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[28]  M. Demir,et al.  Social Skills, Friendship and Happiness: A Cross-Cultural Investigation , 2012, The Journal of social psychology.

[29]  Sylia Wilson,et al.  Spillover to triadic and dyadic systems in families with young children. , 2011, Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

[30]  Emel Arslan,et al.  Social skills and emotional and behavioral traits of preschool children , 2011 .

[31]  S. Bögels,et al.  Mindful Parenting in Mental Health Care , 2010, Mindfulness.

[32]  M. Greenberg,et al.  A Model of Mindful Parenting: Implications for Parent–Child Relationships and Prevention Research , 2009, Clinical child and family psychology review.

[33]  Patrick T. Davies,et al.  Constructive and destructive marital conflict, emotional security and children's prosocial behavior. , 2009, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[34]  K. Wachs,et al.  Mindful relating: exploring mindfulness and emotion repertoires in intimate relationships. , 2007, Journal of marital and family therapy.

[35]  C. Segrin,et al.  Positive interpersonal relationships mediate the association between social skills and psychological well-being , 2007 .

[36]  S. Ramey,et al.  Parent Ratings of Children's Social Skills: Longitudinal Psychometric Analyses of the Social Skills Rating System. , 2007 .

[37]  Patrick T. Davies,et al.  Impact of hostility and withdrawal in interparental conflict on parental emotional unavailability and children's adjustment difficulties. , 2006, Child development.

[38]  J. Dumas.  Mindfulness-Based Parent Training: Strategies to Lessen the Grip of Automaticity in Families With Disruptive Children , 2005, Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53.

[39]  C. Zahn-Waxler,et al.  Parental socialization of emotion expression: gender differences and relations to child adjustment. , 2005, Emotion.

[40]  Kevin S. Groves.  Gender Differences in Social and Emotional Skills and Charismatic Leadership , 2005 .

[41]  M. Engin Deniz,et al.  AN INVESTIGATION OF SOCIAL SKILLS AND LONELINESS LEVELS OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WITH RESPECT TO THEIR ATTACHMENT STYLES IN A SAMPLE OF TURKISH STUDENTS , 2005 .

[42]  C. Rinaldi,et al.  Perceptions of constructive and destructive conflict within and across family subsystems , 2003 .

[43]  M. Cox,et al.  Understanding Families as Systems , 2003 .

[44]  S. Walker,et al.  Gender Influences on Preschool Children's Social Problem-Solving Strategies , 2002, The Journal of genetic psychology.

[45]  R. Engels,et al.  Parenting practices, social skills and peer relationships in adolescence , 2002 .

[46]  Patrick T. Davies,et al.  Exploring children's emotional security as a mediator of the link between marital relations and child adjustment. , 1998, Child development.

[47]  K. Merrell.  An Investigation of the Relationship between Social Skills and Internalizing Problems in Early Childhood: Construct Validity of the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales , 1995 .

[48]  O. Erel,et al.  Interrelatedness of marital relations and parent-child relations: a meta-analytic review. , 1995, Psychological bulletin.

[49]  Xinyin Chen.  Family conditions, parental acceptance, and social competence and aggression in Chinese children , 1994 .

[50]  J. Eccles,et al.  Gender Role Stereotypes, Expectancy Effects, and Parents' Socialization of Gender Differences , 1990 .

[51]  Frank M. Gresham,et al.  The Relationship Between Adaptive Behavior and Social Skills , 1987 .

[52]  U. Bronfenbrenner.  Ecology of the family as a context for human development: research perspectives , 1986 .

[53]  P. Minuchin.  Families and individual development: provocations from the field of family therapy. , 1985, Child development.

[54]  Nancy Eisenberg,et al.  Prosocial development: A longitudinal study. , 1983 .

[55]  G. Cartledge,et al.  The Case for Teaching Social Skills in the Classroom: A Review , 1978 .

[56]  F. Piercy,et al.  Mindfulness-based relationship education for couples expecting their first child-part 2: phenomenological findings. , 2015, Journal of marital and family therapy.

[57]  Simon B. Goldberg,et al.  Promoting prosocial behavior and self-regulatory skills in preschool children through a mindfulness-based Kindness Curriculum. , 2015, Developmental psychology.

[58]  Esra Dereli-Iman.  The Effect of the Values Education Programme on 5.5-6 Year Old Children's Social Development: Social Skills, Psycho-Social Development and Social Problem Solving Skills. , 2014 .

[59]  Alev Önder,et al.  Comparing parental acceptance: The rejection levels and peer relationships of Turkish preschool children , 2011 .

[60]  B. Abdi.  Gender differences in social skills, problem behaviours and academic competence of Iranian kindergarten children based on their parent and teacher ratings , 2010 .

[61]  S. Campbell,et al.  Behavior problems in preschool children: a review of recent research. , 1995, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[62]  S. Elliot.  Behavior Rating Scales: Issues of Use and Development. , 1993 .