Social Competence

Social competence refers to a person's ability to

get along with other people. A child's social
competence is affected by how well she
communicates with other children and with
adults. A child's views of herself in relation to her
family, peers, and the wider world also affect her
social competence.

What makes social competence so

important during childhood?
Social competence is interrelated with other aspects of development, including
emotion self-regulation and attention regulation (Blandon, Calkins, Grimm,
Keane, & OBrien, 2010; Hill, Degnan, Calkins, & Keane, 2006). A young childs
ability to get along with other children contributes much to all aspects of his
development and may be "the single best childhood predictor of adult
adaptation, according to W.W. Hartup. For example, Children who are
generally disliked, who are aggressive and disruptive, who are unable to sustain
close relationships with other children, and who cannot establish a place for
themselves in the peer culture are seriously at risk" (Hartup, 1992, p. 1). Quite
a bit of research during the past 30 years suggests that children who do not
have a basic level of social competence by the age of 6 may have trouble with
relationships when they are adults (Blandon et al. 2010; Ladd, 2000; Parker &
Asher, 1987). The long-range risks for a child who cannot interact well with
other children may include poor mental health, low academic achievement and
other school difficulties, and poor employment history (Katz & McClellan, 1997).

 On the other hand, a child is more likely to have better mental

health, stronger relationships, and more success in school and
work if he has many chances to strengthen his social
competence by playing, talking, working out disagreements,
and collaborating with peers and adults. It is not necessary
that a child be a "social butterfly." Quality matters more than
quantity when it comes to a child's friendships. Children who
have at least one close friend usually tend to increase their
positive feelings about school over time (Ladd, 1999). Some
children may simply be more shy, more inhibited, or more
cautious than others. Pushing such children to interact with
peers can make them very uncomfortable. Unless a child is so
extremely shy that she cannot enjoy many of the "good things
of life" (parties, picnics, family outings), she will probably
outgrow her shyness if adults around her handle it with calm
understanding.

How does a child develop social

competence?
A persons social development starts at birth. Even tiny
babies begin to interact with the people around them.
They respond to voices. They cry to let caregivers know
they need something. They make eye contact and smile
at those who feed them, hold them, or play with them.
The ways in which others respond to those efforts to
communicate help children understand what they need
to do to connect well with people.

 Adults and older children, intentionally or not, are

models for young children of how to behave with other
people. In fact, a great deal of childrens social behavior
is influenced by what they observe other people doing.
(This may include what they see characters doing in
movies, videos, games, or television programs!)

 Most childrens social skills increase rapidly

during the preschool years. It is important to
keep in mind that children of the same age may
not have the same levels of social competence.
Research shows that children have distinct
personalities and temperaments from birth.
Some children may face special challenges when
they interact with peers and adults. A visually
impaired child may not be able to read peers
gestures and facial expressions. A child with
autism may be unable to understand the
emotions expressed by others gestures and
expressions even though she sees them. A child
with hearing, speech, or language difficulties

 Relationships within the family may also affect a childs social behavior.
Behavior that is appropriate or effective in one culture may be less so in
another culture. Children from diverse cultural and family backgrounds
thus may need help in bridging their differences and in finding ways to
learn from and enjoy one another. Teachers can help by creating classroom
communities that are open, honest, and accepting of differences.
Much research suggests that pretend play can contribute to young
childrens social and intellectual development. When children pretend to
be someone or something else, they practice taking points of view other
than their own. When they pretend together, children often take turns and
make deals and decisions cooperatively. Such findings suggest that
children in early childhood programs ought to have regular opportunities
for social play and pretend play. Teachers can observe and monitor the
childrens interactions.

.
How can we evaluate a childs social competence?
Social workers, psychologists, and other professionals may need to use formal
evaluations of preschoolers social competence. These measures include the Social
Skills Rating System (SSRS), the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment
(ASEBA) Preschool (Ages 15), and the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire.
Many of these involve observations of the child, input from adults who know the child,
and may also include interviews with the child. But teachers and caregivers may not
want or need such formal (sometimes costly) measures to gain a sense of the social
competence of the children in their classrooms.
The Social Attributes checklist below was created to help teachers and caregivers
check to see whether a childs social competence is developing well. The intent of
this informal checklist is not to prescribe correct social behavior or diagnose a
problem but rather to help teachers observe, understand, and support children whose
social skills are still forming. The list is based on research on elements of young
childrens social competence and on studies comparing behavior of well-liked children
with that of children who are not as well liked (Bierman, Kalvin, & Heinrichs, 2015;
Katz & McClellan, 1997; Ladd & Profilet, 1996; McClellan & Kinsey, 1999).

 Many of the attributesincluded in the checklist indicate adequate

social growth if they are usually true of the child. Illness, fatigue,or
other stressors can cause short-term variations in a childs apparent
social competence. Such difficulties may last only a few days.
Teachers or caregivers will want to assess each child based on their
frequent direct contact with the child, observation of the child in a
variety of situations, and information given by parents and other
caregivers.
If a child seems to have most of the traits in the checklist, then she
is not likely to need special help to outgrow occasional difficulties.
On the other hand, a child who shows few of the traits on the list
might benefit from adult-initiated strategies to help build more
satisfying relationships with other children.

 Development of social competence in childhood has become an area of interest for researchers,
mainly because of its undeniable constructive role in shaping adjustment abilities both in childhood
and adulthood. As a multidimensional phenomenon, social competence has been defined as a
construct involving variety of qualities and traits such as positive self-image, social assertion,
frequency of interaction, social cognitive skills, popularity with peers, etc. (1).
The term social competence covers a broader domain than does the term social skills. The
term social skills is basically based on behavior and refers to particular behavior types, which a
person should perfect to participate successfully in a variety of social settings. Standing up to group
or peer pressure, asking for help and solving problems could be considered as instances of these
behavior. Person's awareness of how his behavior affects his surroundings and his sensitivity to the
needs of others are the differentiating points of social competence (2 and 3). Greater social
competence is generally related to peers acceptance, emotional health, and capability as
established in school such as school readiness, interpersonal relationships, and social adjustment.
Children who are socially assertive, cooperative, and friendly are likely to do well in social and
academic areas and demonstrate a higher psychological resilience. In contrast with what was
mentioned above, there is positive association between the lack of social competence, such as
empathy, cooperation, and conflict resolution skills on the one hand, and children's negative
behaviors and problems in their social interaction skills on the other hand (4 and 5).

 Furthermore, a number of other studies have shown social competence and

behavioral problems to be negatively correlated (6). The interpretation of this
relation is not obvious; however, such studies do indicate that low social
competence and behavioral problems co-occur, and that even a causal relation can
be assumed to exist between them. This means that is, low social competence
could underlie behavioral problems (e.g. (7).
Problem behaviors include both internalizing (e.g., troubled behaviors such as
anxiety, withdrawal) and externalizing behaviors (e.g., troublesome behaviors
such as acting out, and conduct disorders), and issues of both over-control
(inhibited, and dependent) and under-control (impulsive, inattention, and
aggressive) behaviors (8). Drawing on previous research, Howes delineated a
developmental sequence for social competence, which starts from infancy and
continues up to childhood, being shaped in the interactions with peers. This
sequence can be divided into four stages: infancy, early toddler period, late toddler
period, and preschool period. The social competence of children develops steadily,
at an uneven pace, as they get older (4).

 The social interactions in which young children engage in the second year of their lives
have complementary and reciprocal structures. The peers in play exchange both turns and
roles such as run and chase, hide and seek, offer and receive. The toddler period is of
special significance for the child to develop their capacity both in terms of initiation and
responsiveness. This period marks the formation and stabilization of friendships, which are
the beginning of affective relationships among peers. There is evidence suggesting that
friendship among peers can provide social and emotional support to young children (4). In
the third year, the increased language skills, together with children's ability to assume a
more active role, lead to higher levels of social responsiveness and initiative (9). Once the
children pass this age, their social competence develops most noticeably in the form of the
communication of meaning. The process includes sharing meaning or themes, knowledge
of social rules, negotiation in a cooperative fashion, etc. Children's ability to communicate
meaning enables them to participate in a wider variety of games and to vary the themes of
games, as well as make early forms of social pretension. In the latter toddler period,
children acquire increased flexibility in the choice of friends and playmates, and as a result
make more friends including both long and short term ones (4).

 During the preschool period, the children's social knowledge includes an

increased familiarity with the peer group, and an awareness of their own
membership, and the behavioral traits and qualities of their peers. At this point,
they also seem to be gradually developing the capability to have their own
stable personal judgments about peers. In addition, preschoolers show a
tendency to play with a larger proportion of their peer group than do younger
children, and generally play less exclusively with those children whom they
recognize as friends in sociometric interviews (cited in 4).
Regarding possible effects of age and gender on social competence, we
expect to come across a higher degree of social competence in the older rather
than the younger children as has been reported in the literature (1012).
Additionally, based on the extensive research evidence indicating the
differences between boys and girls in terms of social competence (101213), it
is expected that social competence would be more developed in girls compared
to boys.

 Although much research has been carried out to investigate the development of
children's social competence from infants to preschoolers, the developmental
sequence of social competence and behavior problems during the preschool period
has not been studied as much. Empirical studies on this period might shed light on
the characteristics of children's social competence as well as helping one to discover
the effects of social incompetence on behavior problems especially regarding the
development period of the 2-to 6-year-old children. Furthermore, more intimate
knowledge on the development of social competence and various aspects of the
construct in preschoolers may better contribute to the ones who are seeking to help
out the young children with lower level of social competence, or problems associated
with it (e.g., conduct problems).
The aims of the present study were twofold. In this study it was attempted to (1)
investigate social competence and behavioral / emotional problems in Iranian
preschool children of 42 years, and (2) to examine whether factors such as
children's age, gender, socio-economic status (SES) of the family were related to the
children's social competence and behavioral/emotional problem score