The Mediating Role of Emotion Lability and Emotion Regulation in The Relationship Between Social-Emotional Adaptation with Behavior Regulation and Social Skills Among Preschool Children

Self-regulation is defined as an individual's ability to control and regulate their own behavior; this skill, forming the foundation of social adjustment, influences one's ability to interact with their environment and manage relationships. Emotion regulation, on the other hand, involves the ability to manage emotional responses and is believed to establish a critical connection between social adjustment and self-regulation. In this study, the aim is to determine the mediating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between behavioral regulation, social skills, and social-emotional adjustment skills using two different models.The study included a total of 216 children aged 5 and 6. Data were collected using the Socio-Demographic Information Form, Emotion Regulation Scale (ERS), Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS), and Marmara Social-Emotional Adaptation Scale (MSEAS). When socio-demographic variables were evaluated in terms of social competence and social-emotional adjustment scores according to gender, significant differences were found in favor of girls. Significant differences were also found in favor of children with working mothers when evaluated based on the mother's employment status. There were moderate significant correlations found between emotion regulation, child behavior assessment, and social-emotional adjustment. According to the mediation analyses, there was a partial mediating effect of emotion variability/negativity and emotion regulation in the relationship between behavior regulation and social-emotional adjustment. Similarly, there was a partial mediating effect of emotion variability/negativity and emotion regulation in the relationship between social competence and social-emotional adjustment. It is thought that the finding that children's emotion regulation and emotion variability/negativity mediate the relationship between social-emotional adjustment, social competence, and behavior regulation will contribute to the literature.