A Comparative Study on the Behavioral/Emotional Problems of preschool Children With and Without Experience of Earthquakes

This study relies on information obtained from teachers to compare the behavioral/emotional problems of preschool children with and without previous experience of earthquakes with respect to the variables of sex and mother’s educational level. the study sample comprised a total of 482 children, 210 of whom were attending preschools in the sultandağı (afyon) earthquake zone (study group) and the remaining 272 attending preschools in ankara (control group). “the caregiver-teacher report form for ages 11/2 _ 5; c-trf / 11/2 –5” and the “demographic data teacher form” were used as the data collection instruments. the results suggested that experiencing earthquakes and the variable of mother’s educational level did not create a meaningful difference in children’s behavioral/emotional problems. however, it was observed that the variable of sex caused a meaningful difference in the participating children’s behavioral/emotional problems, independently from the experience of earthquakes. it was found that teachers viewed boys as having more somatic problems, and girls as having more attention problems.