engleski

Predictors of social competence in primary school aged children

Social competencies are developed through interactions between children and their environment However, there are characteristics of a child which can foster or impede the development of social competence. Research shows that cognitive and emotional skills (such as self- regulation and self-efficacy) foster, while emotional and behavior problems impede the development of social competence. The aim of this study was to examine the relations of self- regulation, risk for psychopathology, self- efficacy with social competence in primary school aged children. We also aimed to examine whether self- regulation, risk for psychopathology, and self-efficacy predicted social competence. A total of 320 students from fifth to eight grade of primary schools participated in the study. Instruments that were used are: Social competence with peers questionnaire (Spence, 1995), Questionnaire on self-regulation (Novak & Clayton, 2001), Pediatric Symptom Checklist PSC-35 (Jellinek & Murphy, 1988), and Self-efficacy questionnaire – Children, SEQ-C (Muris, 2001). The results have shown a significant positive correlation of social competence with emotional (r = .25, p<0.01), behavioral (r = .24, p<0.01), and cognitive (r = .29, p<0.01) self- regulation, as well as with social (r = .61, p<0.01), academic (r = .31, p<0.01), and emotional (r = .31, p<0.01) self-efficacy, and a significant negative correlation between social competence and risk for psychopathology (r = -.42, p<0.01). Furthermore, hierarchical regression analysis has shown that better emotional (β = .20, p<.01) and cognitive (β = .18, p<.05) selfregulation, as well as social (β = .67, p<.01) self-efficacy predicted better social competence, while risk for psychopathology predicted poorer social competence (β = -.29, p<.01). The model explained 45% of total variance of social competence. The results confirm the importance of both cognitive and emotional skills in the development of social competence in children. Also, the results suggest that psychopathological symptoms in children may further impede their social competence, which poses additional risks for their social and emotional development. Our results suggest that, in order to facilitate the development of social competence, efforts should be focused on improving self-regulation and self-efficacy. Also, they suggest that it is crucial to provide support for their mental health, as emotional and behavioral problems may be significant obstacles in the development of social competence.

social competence, self-regulation, self-efficacy, risk for psychopathology

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