Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE-30) and Socialization Values (SVQ): Russian Children Ages 3 to 6 Years

Abstract

The social competence and problem behaviors of 217 Russian preschoolers were evaluated by their teachers using the SCBE-30, and socialization values were rated by 26 teachers using a 25-item Socialization Values Q-Sort. It was demonstrated that the development of social competence and behavior problems in Russian preschoolers has many similarities with American, Canadian, French and Spanish samples (LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996; Dumas & Laughlin, 2000). Structural equivalence was demonstrated by finding the same three factors of anxiety-withdrawal, anger-aggression, and social competence as in other samples, and significant negative correlations were observed between social competence and anxiety-withdrawal, and social competence and anger-aggression. These similarities may reflect the universal nature of human social behavior and existence of panhuman characteristics that equip children for survival (Whiting & Edwards, 1988; Butovskaya et al., 2000). At the same time, social competence, angeraggression and anxious-withdrawn scales revealed a mix of universal and culturally specific patterns that may be connected with gender stereotypes that prevail in Russian culture (Butovskaya et al., 1998). Socialization values of the teachers were generally collectivistic, and we believe that this fact influences to some extent their ratings of children on SCBE scales.