The Effect of Internal/ External Factors on the Development of Social Competence in Early Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Social Relationships

Abstract

Early childhood is a period of rapid gains in socially competent behavior that has been theorized to be dependent on individual and environmental variables. An integration of Beauchamp and Anderson’s (2010) SOCIAL model and Lemerise and Arsenio’s (2000) social information processing model suggest the effect of these factors interact with a child’s cognitive ability. This study (N = 300; M age = 44.72 month; SD = 4.3; 44% female) examined how internal (temperament) and external (peer victimization) factors differentially predict social competence in early childhood. It was hypothesized that peer victimization subtypes (i.e., physical and relational) and temperament (i.e., prosociality, negative emotionality, and daring) would influence social competence and executive functioning would moderate this association.

Participants came from a relatively diverse (26.7% non-White), middle to upper-middle class sample. Data was collected using multiple informants (i.e., teacher, research assistant, behavioral observations) at two time points across a 12-15 month period. All measured variables demonstrated good reliability (i.e., internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha > .70; inter-rater reliability, ICC’s > .70). Structural equation modeling was used to create a latent factor of social competence, which was operationalized by three indicators: cooperation, social dominance, and positive peer interaction. The current study not only tested the effect of internal and external factors on this latent variable but also on the individual indicators of social competence.

Analyses of these main effects demonstrated that model fit was poor to adequate when predicting the latent variable of social competence [𝜒2(57) = 125.90, p <. 001, CFI = .87, SRMR = .06, RMSEA = .06] but improved such that fit was good when predicting the separate indicators of social competence [𝜒2(41) = 66.65, p = .007, CFI = .95, SRMR = .046, RMSEA = .046]. Further inspection of this a priori planned model revealed associations between negative emotionality (𝛽 = -.22, p = .002) predicting decreases in cooperation. Conversely, negative emotionality predicted increases in social dominance (𝛽 = .17, p = .02). Post-hoc analyses also revealed similar effects for the temperamental feature, daring, which led to increases in social dominance (𝛽 = .17, p = .01). Results for the moderating role of executive function revealed poor model fit when both predicting the latent variable of social competence [𝜒2(135) = 407.30, p < .001, CFI = .64, SRMR = .09, RMSEA = .08], as well as when predicting the indicators of social competence [𝜒2(106) = 328.15, p < .001, CFI = .70, SRMR = .08, RMSEA = .08]. Taken together, the current study suggests differing effects on the impact of a child’s internal versus external factors on their social development. Ultimately, this study provided partial support for current developmental models of social developments and allowed insight on the comparatively stronger influence of temperamental factors in the development of socially competent behaviors.

Authors

• Gabriela Vivian Memba, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo)
  Presenting Author

• Jamie M. Ostrov, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo)
  Non-Presenting Author