Examination of the Effect of Child-Parent Relationship Therapy on Parents' Communication with Their Children, Emotion Regulation and Empathic Tendencies

Authors : Nihal Aslan Topçu, Fatih Bayram

Pages : 604-632

Doi:10.30622/tarr.1667493

View : 111 | Download : 95

Publication Date : 2025-09-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The communication that parents establish with their children plays a crucial role in their development. Healthy communication between parents and children contributes to easier cooperation with them, the development of responsibility and discipline, and helps them transform into more positive adult individuals. One of the most important factors for this communication to be effective can be said to be empathy. Individuals\\\' ability to empathize, or their empathic tendencies, allows them to resolve conflicts more easily and develop healthy relationships with others. The way parents communicate with their children and their level of empathic tendencies influence the children\\\'s communication styles and empathy skills. It is also known that parents\\\' empathic skills are affected by their emotion regulation skills. Indeed, parents with good emotion regulation skills can also demonstrate high levels of empathic abilities. Both empathic tendencies and emotion regulation skills of parents affect parenting quality as well as the parent-child relationship. In this context, this study aimed to examine the effect of the 10-week Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) program of Filial Therapy, a program that directly affects the relationship between parents and their children, on mothers\\\' communication levels with their children, emotion regulation and empathic tendency levels. Within the scope of this study, mothers with children between the ages of 3-8 were included in the program. The research was conducted as a mixed-method research consisting of both quantitative and qualitative data with 7 mothers who participated voluntarily. To collect data from the mothers, the Sociodemographic Information Form, Parent-Child Communication Scale, Parental Emotion Regulation Scale, and Empathic Tendency Scale were used. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used in the analysis of quantitative data. The results showed that mothers developed their communication and empathic tendencies with their children, while no significant differences were observed in terms of their emotional regulation skills. Qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis. The content analysis revealed that mothers had made positive gains in terms of their communication, emotional regulation, and empathy skills with regard to themselves and their children. Based on these findings, suggestions were presented to parents to maintain healthy relationships with their children.
Keywords : Psikoloji, Filial Terapi, İletişim, Empati, Duygu Düzenleme

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