Preschoolers’ social skills and behavior problems: A cross-cultural exploratory study of Angolan and Portuguese teachers’ perceptions

Major, Sofia; Seabra‐Santos, Maria João; Martin, Roy P.; Ventura, Margarida Maria Fernandes

doi:10.1007/s12144-021-01375-6

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In agreement with our study, other studies carried out on pre-schoolers from Portugal and Angola, have shown that behavioural problems are more likely to be externalized than repressed as a result of cultural influences [ 63 ]. A study performed in 2007 in Argentina [ 19 ] on a sample of 5697 children highlighted that almost 14.6% of children have internal behaviour problems while 14.7% demonstrate external behaviour ones, concluding that an early preventive approach to maladaptive behaviours is necessary.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Promote Positive Behaviors in Preschoolers by Implementing an Innovative Educational Program for the Training and Development of Social and Emotional Skills (DeCo–S.E.)

Bădău¹,

Trifan²

2022

IJERPH

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The purpose of our research is to determine emotional and behavioural modelling in an emotionally safe environment in a group of kindergarten preschoolers, following the application of an innovative curriculum project, designed and implemented for the first time, Educational Program for the training and development of social and emotional skills (DeCo-S.E.). Eighteen teachers, involved in the research, were divided into two samples: the experimental group (EG) consisting of 10 preschool teachers who were trained to take up the DeCo-S.E. program, and the control group (GC) including eight preschool teachers who applied the classic educational strategies. The DeCo–S.E. program is aimed at developing social and emotional skills (emotion identification, frustration tolerance), reducing behavior problems, and solving problems with peers as part of the training process. The study also included 142 children in their last year at kindergarten, aged X ± SD 5.87 ± 2.87 years old, divided into two groups: the EG consisting of 74 children to whom the experimental program was implemented and the GC comprising 72 children who did not take part in the training program. In the present study, we applied only the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales for Teachers (PKBS-2) questionnaire to children in the pre- and post-experimental phases. The results were processed with the statistical software SPSS 22. The analysis of the scores of the questionnaire applied to the children highlighted a significant improvement in EG on both scales. The study reveals the effectiveness of the Development of social and emotional skills programs in preschool children has proven its effectiveness by reducing undesirable/maladaptive behaviours and positively developing socio-emotional skills in preschool children.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Promote Positive Behaviors in Preschoolers by Implementing an Innovative Educational Program for the Training and Development of Social and Emotional Skills (DeCo–S.E.)

Bădău¹,

Trifan²

2022

IJERPH

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“…Third, even though teachers who evaluated child social skills in the current study had been well trained on the identical manuals, Japanese and Chinese teachers might interpret observed behaviors differently because of the cultural differences. Recent studies have discussed country difference on teachers’ perspectives and the evaluations of child social skills in the evaluation process (Major et al, 2021 ; Pirskanen et al, 2019 ). More surveys regarding Japanese and Chinese teachers’ perspectives of child social behaviors should be included in future research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement invariance and country difference in children’s social skills development: Evidence from Japanese and Chinese samples

Zhu

Jiao

et al. 2022

Curr Psychol

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The diversity of child social skills development is not well detected among Asian countries. Culturally validated assessments are needed for practitioners to evaluate child social skills. This study tested the measurement invariance of the Social Skill Scale (SSS) across Japanese and Chinese samples and explored country differences in child social skills development. The SSS utilizes a widely used factor structure (assertion, self-control, and cooperation subdomains) and has established Japanese and Chinese versions. We conducted investigations with an identical process and materials with different language versions, collecting data from 931 Japanese kindergarten children (M age = 4.35, SD age = 1.07; 53.6% boys) and from 1130 Chinese kindergarten children (M age = 4.47, SD age = 1.00; 52.3% boys). We used multiple confirmatory factor analysis to test measurement invariance of the SSS and established the validity, reliability, and scalar measurement invariance for the first-order factor structure of the SSS across the two country samples. We also examined country differences on the associations between demographics, parenting practice, and child social skills development. We found that, compared to the Chinese sample, cooperation skills significantly increased more with age among the Japanese sample. However, spanking was negatively related to self-control skills development in both countries. Our findings contribute to the demonstration of the diversity of child social skills development and have important implications for assessing and developing child social skills using culture-specific strategies.

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Preschoolers’ social skills and behavior problems: A cross-cultural exploratory study of Angolan and Portuguese teachers’ perceptions

Cited by 2 publications

References 29 publications

Promote Positive Behaviors in Preschoolers by Implementing an Innovative Educational Program for the Training and Development of Social and Emotional Skills (DeCo–S.E.)

Promote Positive Behaviors in Preschoolers by Implementing an Innovative Educational Program for the Training and Development of Social and Emotional Skills (DeCo–S.E.)

Measurement invariance and country difference in children’s social skills development: Evidence from Japanese and Chinese samples

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