3-038 - Longitudinal Analyses of Social Engagement in Preschool Age Children from Three Socio-cultural Contexts

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Developmental scientists generally accept the notion that social engagement (SE) with peers is a primary process leading to behavioral and attitudinal changes among school age children and adolescents. However, it is increasingly recognized that peer influences do not begin at entry to elementary school, but rather emerge whenever children start to spend their weekdays in the company of peers. In this symposium, peer SE and its relations with several aspects of adaptive functioning are examined for three samples of children seen over time (months to years). Each study considers changes in peer directed social initiations over time (three terms in a single academic year (1st presentation), annual assessments over three consecutive years (2nd presentation), and changes over two consecutive years for children assigned to categories (i.e., subtypes) with respect to SE (3rd presentation). Results illustrate that SE is both significantly stable and also changing over early childhood. Findings also suggest that early SE relates to measures of social adaptation at later assessments, net of effects of earlier social adaptation on later social adaptation. Results support the notion that SE is a foundational aspect of peer social competence during early childhood, insofar as more engaged children tend to increase their levels of social competence more rapidly than do less engaged children. Results also suggest comparisons with research on social withdrawal, indicating that the least engaged children in early preschool groups may be at greater risk for later social difficulties than are their more engaged peers.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Brian E Vaughn, Auburn University

Discussant

• Marcel Trudel, University of Sherbrooke

Individual Presentations

• The Contribution of Social Engagement to Social Adaptation: A One-year Longitudinal Study in an Italian Early Childhood Sample - Presenting Author: Gabrielle Coppola, Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University "A. Moro" of Bari, Italy; João R. Daniel, William James Center for Research, ISPA- Instituto Universitário; Lucia Elia, Università degli Studi “A. Moro” di Bari; Brian E Vaughn, Auburn University; Alida Lococo, Università degli Studi “A. Moro” di Bari; Rosalinda Cassibba, Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University "A. Moro" of Bari, Italy

• Changes in Social Engagement with Peers Over Three Years in a Portuguese Sample - Presenting Author: António J Santos, William James Center for Research, ISPA-Insituto Universitário; João R. Daniel, William James Center for Research, ISPA- Instituto Universitário; Tânia Sousa, William James Center for Research, ISPA-Insituto Universitário; Brian E Vaughn, Auburn University

• Longitudinal Trajectories of Social Engagement with Peers in a USA Preschool Sample: Variable and Person-Centered Analyses - Presenting Author: Brian E Vaughn, Auburn University; António J Santos, William James Center for Research, ISPA-Insituto Universitário; João R. Daniel, William James Center for Research, ISPA- Instituto Universitário; Nana N Shin, EWHA Womans University; Gabrielle Coppola, Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University "A. Moro" of Bari, Italy; Lígia Monteiro, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL; Lisa Krzysik, Auburn University