ANALYSIS OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STABILITY LEVELS OF CHILDREN ATTENDING THE PRESCHOOL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION ACCORDING TO SOME DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES

Abstract

The research aims to examine whether social emotional well-being and psychological resilience level of children attending pre-school education institutions is determined according to variables such as age, gender, number of siblings, education level of parents, father's occupation, mother's employment status, school type, school attendance and professional experience of teacher or not. The study is important in that it is one of the first studies in the field of social emotional well-being and psychological resilience in preschool period and creates awareness of demographic variables that may be effective in raising psychologically sound children. Relational scanning model is implemented in the study. The universe of the study consists of 36-72month-old children attending nursery classes affiliated to primary schools and public kindergartens in Trabzon province -Ortahisar, Yomra, Arsin, Araklı and Sürmene districts-. The sample of the study is composed of 315 children attending nursery classes affiliated to primary schools and public kindergartens and they are selected from the universe by simple random sampling method. The "Social Emotional Well-being and Psychological Resilience Scale" (PERIK) and the "Demographic Information Form", of which validity and reliability studies were conducted by Özbey (2019), were used as data collection tools in the study. The scale items for 315 children included in the study were filled in by their teachers. According to the result of the research, there is no significant difference in PERİK scores of children with respect to their gender and number of siblings. It is determined that there is a significant difference in favour of children who have been attending kindergarten for 3 years and in favour of 60-72 month-old children according to the age variable (p <0.05). Related with the education level of parents, a significant difference is found in favour of children whose parents are university graduates (p <0.05). A meaningful difference is also found in favour of children whose fathers have a professional job and whose mothers are working (p <0.05). As for the school type, a significant difference is found in favour of children attending kindergartens (p <0.05). According to the professional experience of teachers, there is a significant difference in favour of teachers who have worked for or over 15 years (p <0.05). As a result of the study, the psychological resilience level of children who have been attending pre-school education institutions for 3 years, who are 60-72 months old, who attend kindergartens, whose parents have higher level of education, whose fathers have a professional job, whose mothers are working and who takes education from a teacher with 15 years or more experience is found to be higher. In line with the findings of the research, suggestions that can contribute to the field are presented.