Some aspects of socio-emotional development of preschool children - assessment of parents and educators and analysis of children’s drawings

Osim tjelesnog, motoričkog i spoznajnog razvoja, dijete razvija i odnose prema sebi i ljudima iz svoje okoline u čemu važnu ulogu ima emocionalni razvoj. Djetetovo učenje razumijevanja, prepoznavanja i izražavanja emocija uvelike ovisi o njegovom temperamentu (Starc i sur., 2004). Temperament opisuje djetetov ponašajni stil, odnosno načine na koje ono nešto čini. Tijekom sazrijevanja djeteta, okolina modelira način izražavanja emocija i uči ga što je društveno prihvatljivo. Važan aspekt emocionalne regulacije je pronalaženje strategije koju će dijete koristiti kada se suoči sa stresnom situacijom (Drake i Winner, 2013). Jedna od tih strategija može biti i crtanje. Kroz crteže djeca komuniciraju sa svojom okolinom i izražavaju svoje strahove, radost, tugu i slično (Farokhi i Hashemi, 2011). Najpoznatiji pristup utvrđivanja emocionalne prilagođenosti djeteta osmislila je Elizabeth Koppitz (Catte i Cox, 1999, prema Sambolek i sur., 2010). Emocionalne indikatore koje možemo pronaći u dječjim crtežima Skybo i suradnici (2007) definirali su kao signale koji odražavaju djetetove brige ili anksioznost (prema Velez van Meerbeke i sur., 2011). Cilj provedenog istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost roditeljskih procjena temperamenta i emocionalne regulacije te odgojiteljskih procjena socioemocionalne dobrobiti, otpornosti i emocionalnih indikatora na temelju analize dječjih crteža. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 391 dijete u dobi od 5 do 7 godina i isto toliko roditelja. Roditelji su procjenjivali temperament i regulaciju emocija svoje djece, dok su odgojitelji u dječjim vrtićima procjenjivali socioemocionalnu dobrobit i otpornost djece. Djeca su temeljem standardizirane upute crtala ljudski lik. Kasnije su procjenjivači analizirali crteže vodeći računa o prisutnosti emocionalnih indikatora (Koppitz, 1968, prema Skybo i sur., 2007, prema Sambolek i sur, 2010). Rezultati su pokazali veću povezanost emocionalnih indikatora s dimenzijama socioemocionalne dobrobiti i otpornosti nego s temperamentom i regulacijom emocija.In addition to physical, motor and cognitive development, a child also develops relationships with himself/herself and people around him/her, in which emotional development plays an important role. A child’s learning to understand, recognize and express emotions depends mostly on his/hers temperament (Starc et al., 2004). Temperament describes child’s behavioral style, that is, the ways in which he/she does something. As the child matures, the environment models the way emotions are expressed and teaches him/her what is socially acceptable. An important aspect of emotional regulation is finding strategy that the child will use when is faced with a stressful situation (Drake and Winner, 2013). One of these strategies can be drawn. Through drawing, children communicate with their environment and express their fears, joy, sadness and so on (Farokhi and Hashemi, 2011). The best-known approach to determining child’s emotional adjustment was invented by Elizabeth Koppitz (Catte and Cox, 1999, according to Sambolek et al., 2010). Emotional indicators that can be found in children’s drawings Skybo et al (2007) are defined as signals that reflect a child’s worries or anxiety. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between parental assessments of temperament and emotional regulation and educational assessments of socio-emotional wellbeing and resilience and emotional indicators based on the analysis of children’s drawings. The study was involved 391 children between the ages of 5 and 7 and the same number of parents. Parents assessed the temperament and regulation of their children’s emotions, while kindergarten teachers were assessed the socio-emotional well-being and resilience of children. The children drew a human figure based on standardized instructions. Later, evaluators analyzed the drawings taking them into account the presence of emotional indicators. (Koppitz, 1968, according to Skybo et al., 2007, according to Sambolek et al, 2010). The results showed a greater association of emotional indicators with the dimensions of socio-emotional well-being and resilience than with temperament and emotion regulation