Associations between of maternal parenting styles and beliefs about children's emotions on preschoolers’ social skills and problem behaviours

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate the predictive effects of maternal parenting styles and beliefs about emotions on the social skills and problem behaviours of preschoolers. The study involved 227 mothers of 3–6-year-old preschool children (Mage = 63 months). Two hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determine to what extent the mothers’ parenting styles and beliefs about children's emotions predicted the social skills and problem behaviours of their children. The first model found that the authoritative parenting style and supportive beliefs about children's emotions explained 14% of the variance in social skills. The second model found that non-supportive beliefs about emotions, combined with authoritative and permissive parenting style predicted 18% of children's problem behaviours. The findings of the study suggest that parenting styles and emotional beliefs play a crucial role in predicting children's social skills and problem behaviours.