The Relationship Between Mother's Child-Rearing Attitude, Language Control Styles, and Preschool Child's Social Competence

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between mother child-rearing attitude, language control styles and preschool child's social competence, and also, to provide a basis for development of a program to promote preschool child's social competence. METHODS: The present study was a descriptive research. Participants in this study were a convenience sample of 300 preschool children and their mothers. For the final analysis 264 questionnaires were used after eliminating questionnaires with incomplete responses. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 18.0 program. RESULTS: The mean score for mother's child-rearing attitude was 3.31±0.25 out of 5 points, for hierarchical language control styles (2.76±0.62), commanding (1.95±0.58), and humanistic (2.48±0.62) out of 5 points, and for child's social competence, 3.50±0.34 out of 5 points. Negative correlations were found between commanding language control styles and child's social competence (r=-.34, p<.001), and between commanding language control style and mother's child-rearing attitude (r=-.50, p<.001). CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate the importance of the quality of mother's child-rearing attitude and language control styles for child's social competence. It is suggested that promotion programs to enhance preschool child's social competence should be developed in conjunction with the parenting related environment.