Abstract:

This study aims to address resilience in early childhood and to examine to what extent resilience depends on acquisition of social values by children. In the study, we examined acquisition of social values and resilience levels of children in the city of Ankara, Turkey. The sample consists of 220 families who had a child at the pre-school age and who were exposed to one of the following risks: divorce, financial distress/poverty, migration/moving to another city, psychological/physical illness, irreconcilable differences/family problems, disaster/traumatic accident, father away/in prison. The results showed that resilience in children differed significantly according to gender and father's educational status. The mother's education level and the type of negative experience of the family did not have a significant effect on children's resilience. We found that girls were more resilient than boys. The resilience of children whose fathers had a bachelor's degree is higher than children whose fathers were primary and secondary school graduates. The acquisition of social values by children differs significantly only according to the father's education level. Social values acquisition levels of children whose fathers were high school and university graduates were higher than children whose fathers were secondary school graduates. The results also reveal that the acquisition of social values is an important predictor of resilience in preschool children who are exposed to various risks. We think that these results will contribute to efforts that aim to increase and improve resilience of children in early childhood.

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