Abstract
This study examined social competencies in 4-year-old, lower income, nonwhite preschool children in a replication of work by Shure, Spivack, and Jaeger. Age differential interpersonal cognitive problem-solving skills were investigated, i.e., ability to generate alternative solutions to interpersonal problems, consequential thinking, and school achievement as they relate to behavioral adjustment ratings by teachers and independent observers. A teacher's rating of a child as aberrant or adjusted predicted an independent observer's rating of that child in a naturalistic setting. Children who were rated as adjusted by their teachers had significantly higher scores on an achievement inventory than those children who were rated aberrant, but the study did not find the predicted relationship between problem-solving thinking and adjustment.
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Reference Notes
Gesten, E., & Weissberg, R.Social problem-solving training and prevention: Some good news and some bad news. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, September 1979.
Krasnor, L. R., & Rubin, K. H.Preschoolers' verbal and behavioral solutions to social problems. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association, Ottawa, Ontario, 1978.
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Rickel, A.U., Burgio, J.C. Assessing social competencies in lower income preschool children. Am J Commun Psychol 10, 635–645 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01312596
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01312596