Preschool Children's Social Competence: The Roles of Parent-Child, Parent-Parent, and Teacher-Child Relationships

Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

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Preschool Children; Interpersonal Competence; Parent Child Relationship; Family Relationship; Teacher Student Relationship; Foreign Countries; Preschool Teachers; Predictor Variables; Measures (Individuals); Rating Scales

10.1080/1350293X.2021.1985557

1350-293X

Children's relationships with adults (e.g. parents and teachers) and within-family relationships (e.g. parent-parent) are important drivers for the development of children's social competence. The current study examined the contributions of adult-child relationships (parent-child and teacher-child) and parent-parent relationships to preschool children's social competence. In addition, the moderating roles of teacher-child relationships between parent-child and parent-parent relationships, and children's social competence were examined. Participants were parents and teachers of 127 children (M = 54.65, SD = 9.22 months) from Turkey. Parents reported on parent-child and parent-parent relationships and teachers reported on teacher-child relationships and children's social competence. Hierarchical regression models accounting for the nesting structure of the data were run to test the hypotheses. Results showed that teacher-child closeness was positively and teacher-child conflict was negatively associated with children's social competence. Parent-child and parent-parent relationships were not associated with children's social competence. Teacher-child closeness moderated the association between parent-parent conflict and social competence. The findings highlight the importance of examining both parent-parent and teacher-child relationships in the prediction of children's social competence.

As Provided

2022

EJ1326851