A Study on Parents' Emotion Regulation Skills, Self-Awareness, and Cognitive Flexibility Levels

Abstract

Individuals' cognitive flexibility, their capacity to regulate their emotions, and their ability to be aware of the present moment will positively influence the way they behave toward themselves and their environment. It is considered that parents with these characteristics will exhibit behaviors that influence future generations largely in a positive way. The research aims to test a hypothetical model developed based on the literature to determine the factors affecting the cognitive flexibility of parents. The study group of the research consists of 351 parents with children in various age groups who are attending preschool, primary school, secondary school, or high school. The Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting Scale were utilized as data collection tools in this study. The research was carried out with the relational screening model. Structural Equation Modeling was used for the analysis of the data. The emotion regulation skills and mindfulness demonstrated a positive relationship in the model where cognitive flexibility was accepted as a predicted variable. Besides, mindfulness displays a positive relationship with cognitive flexibility.