Preschool Children's Social Competency and Perceived Social Support

아동이 지각한 사회적 지지와 사회적 능력

This study investigated the relationship between preschool children's social competence and perceived social support. The subjects were 85 children enrolled in 10 kindergartens and nurseries located in Seoul. Social support was assessed by children themselves with a social support dialogue Cask, "My Family and Friends," developed by Reid, Lamdegman, and Jaccard (1989). This task consists of 12 dialogues based on Vygotskian principles. Social competency was assessed by teachers with a slightly modified version of Song's Iowa Social Competency Scale (ISCS). The data were analyzed by frequencies percentiles, mean, one-way ANOVAs, and Pearson's correlations. Results showed that (1) Children perceived parents to be the best multi-purpose social providers: mothers for emotional support and fathers for instrumental support. (2) Children with unemployed mothers perceived higher maternal emotional, informational, and instrumental support than children with employed mothers. (3) Middle-class children perceived higher friendship support than upper-or lower-class children. (4) Friendship support was the one variable most significantly related to children's social competence.