The Role of Mothers' Metaemotion in Socioemotional Competence of Preschool Children

Cilj ovog istraţivanja bio je ispitati povezanost metaemocija majki s emocionalnom i socijalnom kompetencijom njihove djece predškolske dobi. Uz to, ţeljeli smo provjeriti postoje li razlike u metaemocijama majki s obzirom na rod njihova djeteta, postoje li rodne razlike u socijalnoj i emocionalnoj kompetenciji djece predškolske dobi, te koja je uloga roda u povezanosti majčinih metaemocija s emocionalnom i socijalnom kompetencijom njihove djece. U istraţivanju je sudjelovalo 106 djece, od čega 49 dječaka i 57 djevojčica, njihove majke i odgajateljice. Za ispitivanje majčinih metaemocija korištena je prilagoĎena verzija Upitnika strukture roditeljskih metaemocija (Brajša-Ţganec, 2002), a kao mjeru dječjeg emocionalnog prepoznavanja i razumijevanja koristili smo Intervju emocionalnog prepoznavanja i razumijevanja (Brajša-Ţganec, 2003). PrilagoĎena verzija upitnika Iowa Scales of Emotional Expressivity (Humrichouse, 2010) bila je mjera dječje emocionalne ekspresivnosti, a Upitnik odnosa s drugima mjera socijalne kompetencije konstruirana u svrhu ovog istraţivanja. Podatke su na posljednja dva instrumenta davale odgajateljice. UtvrĎena je značajna pozitivna povezanost izmeĎu dječje emocionalne ekspresivnosti i socijalne kompetencije, dok majčine metaemocije nisu bile povezane ni s emocionalnom niti sa socijalnom kompetencijom djece. Spomenuta povezanost nije se značajno razlikovala za dječake i djevojčice. Od rezultata na subskalama specifičnih emocija istaknula se povezanost pozitivne emocionalne ekspresivnosti sa socijalnom kompetencijom. Nadalje, utvrĎena je rodna razlika u emocionalnoj ekspresivnosti, pri čemu su dječaci, suprotno pretpostavkama, procijenjeni emocionalno kompetentnijima od djevojčica.The objective of this study was to examine the relationship of mothers' metaemotion with social and emotional competence of their preschool children. Furthermore, we wanted to examine if there are differences in mothers' metaemotion regarding their child's gender, gender differences of preschool boys and girls in social and emotional competence, and the role of gender in the relationship between mothers' metaemotion with social and emotional competence of their children. 106 children participated in the study, from which 49 were boys and 57 were girls, with their mothers and kindergarten teachers. The measure of mothers’ metaemotion was an adjusted version of Parental Metaemotion Philosophy Questionnaire (Brajša-Ţganec, 2002), child’s emotion recognition and understanding was measured with Emotion Recognition and Understanding Interview (Brajša-Ţganec, 2003), child’s emotional expressivity with an adjusted version of Iowa Scales of Emotional Expressivity (Humrichouse, 2010), in which kindergarten teachers assessed the children, while the Questionnaire of Relationship with Others, which was constructed for the purpose of this research, was the measure of social competence (the children were also assessed by their kindergarten teachers).A significant connection was observed between emotional expressivity and social competence, while mothers’ metaemotion were not connected to emotional, nor social competence. The mentioned relationship was not statistically different for boys and girls. From subscales of specific emotions one connection stood out – positive emotional expressivity was positively related to social competence. Furthermore, a gender difference in emotion expressivity was observed – boys, contrary to our expectation, were assessed as emotionally more competent than girls