Relations between Social Competence and Academic Achievement in Early Adolescence

Abstract

Relations between academic performance and 3 aspects of social competence--socially responsible behavior, sociometric status, and self-regulatory processes (goal setting, interpersonal trust, and problem-solving styles)--were studied. Based on a sample of 423 12- and 13-year-old students, correlational findings indicate that each aspect of social competence is related significantly to students' grades. Results from multiple regression analyses suggest that when accounting for students' IQ, sex, ethnicity, school absence, and family structure, socially responsible behavior mediates almost entirely the relations between students' grades and the other 2 aspects of social competence. Socially responsible behavior and peer status appear to be related by way of their joint association with goals to be socially responsible, interpersonal trust, and problem-solving styles. Similarly, relations between socially responsible behavior and the background variables are explained by joint relations with the self-regulatory processes. The social nature of learning and the role of self-regulation in both interpersonal and behavioral aspects of social competence are discussed.

Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Relations Among Children's Trust Beliefs, Psychological Maladjustment and Social Relationships: Are Very High as Well as Very Low Trusting Children at Risk?

“…Consistent with the preceding theoretical perspectives, researchers have found that children's trust beliefs are positively and linearly associated with: honesty (Wright & Kirmani, 1977), low levels of depression (Lester & Gatto, 1990), higher social status (Buzzelli, 1988), socially responsible behavior (Wentzel, 1991), low levels of loneliness (Rotenberg et al, 2005), effective interpersonal problem solving (Wentzel, 1991) and academic achievement (Imber, 1973;Wentzel, 1991). The research on children's trust is limited, however, because it has examined: (a) only linear relations, (b) cross-sectional relations, (c) measures of trust beliefs in a general category of others almost exclusively, and (d) limited domains of psychosocial functioning.…”

More than Manners: Conflict Resolution in Primary Level Classrooms

“…''Although the link between social and academic problem-solving is not well understood'' it appears that ''the ability to control negative emotional reactions to failure may contribute to both socially and academically competent outcomes'' (Wentzel, 1991(Wentzel, , p. 1068. Wentzel (1991) found that each characteristic of social responsibility including interpersonal problem solving, interpersonal trust and emotional self-regulation was significantly correlated with academic achievement.…”

“…Personal background and status variables ''did not explain an additional, significant amount of variance in social responsibility'' (Wentzel, 1991(Wentzel, , p. 1074.…”

Social network, interpersonal concerns and help-seeking in primary grade school children as a function of sex, performance and economic status

“…We infer this from the absence of strong correlations between the form of support and the sources of support outside the immediate family. The significant differences found with the instruments measuring the social network, interpersonal concerns, and help seeking seem to indicate that the problem of poor academic perfonnance entails global problems, not just failure in schooL Several factors implicating social adaptation have been noted in the literature (Feldhusen et aI., 1970;Lambert, 1972;Spivack et aL, 1986;Wentzel 1991). The difficulties seem to be aggravated when boys from underpriviledged backgrounds are involved, thus attesting to the interaction of sex, milieu, and school performance.…”

“…Competent social behavior has been found to be correlated with academic success (Wentzel, 1991). Furthermore, children from lower socio-economic milieu are less liked by their classmates Roff, Sells, & Golden, 1972).…”