PREDICTING CHILDREN'S SOCIAL COMPETENCE AND MALADJUSTMENT IN KINDERGARTEN (STATUS, AGGRESSION, PEERS)

JOSEPH MICHAEL PRICE, Purdue University

Abstract

There is empirical evidence to suggest that children who experience difficulties in their peer relations in early grade school are likely to continue to do so through later grades, and as a consequence, may experience difficulties in other aspects of school functioning as well. Therefore, it was suggested that the degree of success children have in their peer relationships following the transition into kindergarten may have both immediate and long term implications for their school functioning and development. However, little attention has been focused on the factors that may facilitate or inhibit children's social adaptation following early school transitions. In the present study, children's preschool behavioral orientations and patterns of peer contact and the number of familiar peers among children's kindergarten classmates were examined in relation to their social competence and maladjustment in kindergarten. Fifty eight subjects were followed from preschool to the end of kindergarten. Behavioral orientations and peer contact patterns were assessed in preschool, along with various criterion variables (i.e., social status, teachers' perceptions of competence and maladjustment, and academic achievement). These same variables were reassessed at both the beginning and end of kindergarten. Also assessed at each time in kindergarten was the number of new friendships formed. The number of kindergarten classmates children knew prior to the beginning of kindergarten was assessed at the beginning of the year. In general, positive behavioral orientations and peer contact patterns were unrelated to children's social competence in kindergarten. One exception was that, among females, cooperative play in preschool was related to peer liking at the end of kindergarten. Agonistic behavioral orientations and peer contacts were predictive of maladjustment in kindergarten, but only among males. Finally, the presence of familiar peers in kindergarten was predictive of social status at both the beginning and end of kindergarten and, among males, of teachers' ratings of social competence. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for children experiencing the transition into kindergarten.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Developmental psychology

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