Social Psychology Research

Abstract Introduction: The purpose of the research was to explain children's social skills based on the parents' emotional regulation, considering the mediating role of parent-child relationships. Methods: The parents of elementary school students in Yazd in the academic year 2022-2023 formed the statistical population of this research, and 300 of these parents were selected as the study sample by cluster method. Research measurements were the Child–Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004), and the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990). The partial least square method (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data.  Results: According to the findings, emotional regulation (P=0.468) was not a direct predictor of children's social skills; while emotional awareness (P=0.001) predicted children's social skills. Emotional regulation (P=0.033) and emotional awareness (P=0.033) were negative predictors of parent-child conflict, but emotional regulation (P=0.036) and emotional awareness (P=0.001) were positive predictors of parent-child closeness. Based on the findings, emotion regulation (P=0.045) and emotional awareness (P=0.001) predicted children's social skills through parent-child closeness. Conclusion: It can be said that although emotion regulation in parents alone did not explain social skills in children; due to increasing parent-child closeness, it can lead to social skills in children. In this research, the distinctive role of emotional awareness compared to other components of emotion regulation was considered.