Temperament, Family, Peer, and Learning Environment: Correlates of Social-Emotional Abilities in Chinese Preschoolers
Keywords:
social-emotional abilities; temperament; family environment; peer communication; learning environmentAbstract
Social-emotional development in early childhood is crucial for children’s immediate and long-term well-being. This study examined how preschoolers’ temperament, family environment, peer communication skills, and learning environment relate to their social-emotional abilities. A quantitative survey was conducted with 534 children aged 3-6 in an eastern Chinese city (urban, predominantly middle-income families); participants were randomly selected from kindergartens across the city's districts and sampled within sites using stratified random sampling by age group (3, 4-5, and 6 years) and gender. Parents and teachers completed validated questionnaires: the Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (PreBERS) for children’s social-emotional abilities, the Parental Temperament Questionnaire (PTQ), the Family Environment Scale-Chinese Version (FES-CV), a Peer Communication Skills Questionnaire, and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R). Results showed that older preschoolers exhibited higher social-emotional ability levels than younger children, while no significant gender differences were found. All four contextual factors were positively correlated with children’s social-emotional abilities: temperament, family environment, peer communication, and learning environment each demonstrated strong associations (Pearson r = 0.88-0.92, p < .001). These findings underscore the multi-faceted nature of social-emotional development and suggest that involving temperament, family, peer, and learning environment may effectively support early children’s social-emotional growth.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.24.11.5
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