Individual, Differential, and Aggregate Stability of Social Competence

Abstract

The quest for the stability of individual differences despite universal developmental change has attracted many personality psychologists as well as developmental psychologists. With respect to social competence from a developmental perspective, the question becomes: How stable are interindividual differences in social competence over time despite age-related changes in social competence? Will a very competent preschooler become a very competent first grader? If individual differences in social competence are predictable to some extent from one developmental stage to another, are all children equally predictable, or are some children better predictable than others? And if so, which children are the more readily predictable ones? Can we predict children’s differential stability in social competence based on their other characteristics?