Individual Characteristics, Family Factors, and Classroom Experiences as Predictors of Low-Income Kindergarteners' Social Skills.

Shayl Griffith,David Arnold,Mary-Ellen Voegler-Lee,Janis Kupersmidt

doi:10.5539/jedp.v6n1p59

Abstract

There has been increasing awareness of the need for research and theory to take into account the intersection of individual characteristics and environmental contexts when examining predictors of child outcomes. The present longitudinal, multi-informant study examined the cumulative and interacting contributions of child characteristics (language skills, inattention/hyperactivity, and aggression) and preschool and family contextual factors in predicting kindergarten social skills in 389 low-income preschool children. Child characteristics and classroom factors, but not family factors, predicted teacher-rated kindergarten social skills, while child characteristics alone predicted change in teacher-rated social skills from preschool to kindergarten. Child characteristics and family factors, but not classroom factors, predicted parent-rated kindergarten social skills. Family factors alone predicted change in parent-rated social skills from preschool to kindergarten. Individual child characteristics did not interact with family or classroom factors in predicting parent- or teacher-rated social skills, and support was therefore found for an incremental, rather than an interactive, predictive model of social skills. The findings underscore the importance of assessing outcomes in more than one context, and of considering the impact of both individual and environmental contextual factors on children’s developing social skills when designing targeted intervention programs to prepare children for kindergarten.

Highlights

Social skills are an important component of school readiness for young children preparing to enter formal schooling, and children’s ability to succeed socially predicts later academic, social and emotional functioning (Belsky & MacKinnon, 1994; Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000; Wildenger & McIntyre, 2012)
We examine from an ecological perspective the intersecting contributions of preschool child characteristics and classroom and family contextual factors in predicting kindergarten social skills at home and at school in a low-income population
Preschool parent-rated social skills were positively correlated with parenting warmth and language ability, and negatively correlated with inattention/hyperactivity and aggression

Summary

Introduction

Social skills are an important component of school readiness for young children preparing to enter formal schooling, and children’s ability to succeed socially predicts later academic, social and emotional functioning (Belsky & MacKinnon, 1994; Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000; Wildenger & McIntyre, 2012). For children from low-income backgrounds, who are disproportionately at risk for a wide variety of negative outcomes, social skills play an important protective role (Bulotsky‐Shearer et al, 2012; Cohen, 2011; Nix, Bierman, Domitrovich, & Gill, 2013). Low-income children with stronger social skills are perceived by teachers to have better academic ability (Baker, Tichovolsky, Kupersmidt, Voegler-Lee, & Arnold, 2014), are less vulnerable to academic disengagement (Bierman et al, 2010; Fantuzzo & McWayne, 2002), and are better able to navigate learning in a classroom of peers (Coolahan, 2000; Elias & Haynes, 2008). While children from low-income communities typically have social skills that are less developed than their higher-income counterparts (Burchinal et al, 2013), this is not universally the case. Identifying individual and contextual factors that promote positive outcomes despite increased risk is essential for a strengths-based understanding of social skills development among low-income children. Critical social skills include the ability to communicate effectively, to follow directions, to cooperate, to be attentive, to appropriately ask for and receive help, and to get along well www.ccsenet.org/jedp

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