The goal of this study was to determine whether peer social competence (SC), defined as the capacity to use behavioral, cognitive, and emotional resources in the service of achieving personal goals within preschool peer groups, was related to the type of affiliative subgroups to which children belonged. Two hundred forty Portuguese preschool children (152 seen in consecutive years of data collection) from middle-class families participated. Affiliative subgroup type was assessed from observed proximity data. Social competence was assessed using observational and sociometric measures. Children in more cohesive affiliative subgroups had higher levels of SC, whereas ungrouped children had the lowest SC scores. Follow-up analyses indicated that 2 of the measured SC domains (social engagement/motivation, profiles of behavior/personality attributes) were responsible for the overall difference in SC. Further, membership in a more cohesive subgroup in 1 year contributed to increases in scores for 2 of 3 SC domains (i.e., profiles of behavior/personality attributes and peer acceptance) in the following year. Results suggest that affiliative subgroups both reflect and support individual differences in peer SC during early childhood.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0039425 | DOI Listing |
J Appl Behav Anal
January 2025
Prosocial Interactions Program, University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute, Omaha, NE, USA.
Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder are at high risk of being bullied, but research on teaching children with autism self-protection skills for bullying situations is scant. We taught five children self-protection skills for two types of bullying (threats and unkind remarks) and consecutive bullying occurrences. We first evaluated behavioral skills training and a textual prompt to teach children to report threats of physical or material harm, provide a disapproving statement after a first unkind remark, and occupy themselves with an activity away from a bully after a second unkind remark.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Child Adolesc Psychiatry
April 2024
School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
Introduction: Anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are some of the most common conditions that youths (<18 years old) receive mental health treatment for. These conditions are associated with high-risk substance use or substance use disorders (SUDs). This study sought to identify the proportion of youths (<18 years old) with anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, or ADHD as a primary diagnosis in community mental health centers (CMHCs) having co-occurring high-risk substance use or a SUD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Child Adolesc Psychiatry
July 2024
School of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Introduction: Multiple risk and protective factors influence the wellbeing and retention of child protective and youth justice professionals. Less attention has been given to empirically understand how residential childcare workers (RCW) experience these factors. A sense of pride and of achievement may be related to competence and satisfaction, which have been identified as protective factors against staff turnover.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Child Adolesc Psychiatry
August 2024
Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development, Oslo, Norway.
Introduction: Symptoms of depression in early childhood have been linked to interpersonal difficulties, whereas friendships serve a protective function.
Methods: In the present study, we examined depression symptoms in preschool age (4 years) in relation to social skills (communication and cooperation), and friendships into early school age (Grades 1 and 2) in a large subsample (= 943) of Norwegian children.
Results: The results indicated that preschool depression symptoms negatively predicted Grade 1 communication skills, which in turn predicted Grade 2 depression symptoms.
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