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Social Competence and Adjustment in Chinese and North American Children:  A Contextual-Developmental Perspective

Social Competence and Adjustment in Chinese and North American Children:  A Contextual-Developmental Perspective. Xinyin Chen University of Western Ontario. Some Theoretical Issues Social competence

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Social Competence and Adjustment in Chinese and North American Children:  A Contextual-Developmental Perspective

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  1. Social Competence and Adjustment in Chinese and North American Children:  A Contextual-Developmental Perspective Xinyin Chen University of Western Ontario

  2. Some Theoretical Issues • Social competence • The ability to act effectively and appropriately in social situations in order to achieve personal or group success • e.g., acquiring a toy from another child • Culture and social competence • The judgment of “appropriateness” based on cultural norms and values • e.g., affect expression in parent-child interactions • - The general neglect of “meanings” of socio-emotional functioning in cross-cultural research

  3. The contextual-developmental perspective • The meaning of socio-emotional functioning in social interactions • Social evaluations and responses as a indicator and mediator of cultural influence on human development • The meaning of socio-emotional functioning in development • Developmental processes and patterns (e.g., antecedents, concomitants and outcomes)

  4. Shyness-inhibition The Western literature (e.g., Asendorpf, 1990; Coplan et al., 2004) - indicating social immaturity and incompetence - concurrent and long-term correlates Shyness-inhibition in traditional Chinese culture Shyness-inhibition vs. social disinterest

  5. Early Behavioral Characteristics and Socialization I: Behavioral Inhibition • Participants • 238 children in China, 108 children in Canada, aged 2 years • Procedure • Behavioral inhibition paradigm • Maternal childrearing attitudes (Block, 1981) • Acceptance, Rejection, Punishment orientation, etc.

  6. Inhibition Scores *** *** **

  7. Percentage of Children who Contacted Mother or Did not Approach Stranger *** *** *** ***

  8. Social Experiences of Shy-inhibited Children in Peer Interactions in China and Canada Samples:China: N = 200 (50 shy-inhibited, 100 non-shy, based on POS)Canada: N = 180 (45 shy-inhibited, 90 non-shy)Age = 4 yrsLaboratory observations: Same-sex quartets, 2 x 15 min. free play sessionsInteraction Strategy Coding:Initiations: nonverbal passive, active low-power, active high-powerResponses: positive responses, information exchange, rejection

  9. The “Shanghai Longitudinal Project” Participants:About 500 children from age 8 and 10 years, assessed every 2 yearsPeer Assessments (RCP, Masten et al., 1985):Shyness-Sensitivity, etc.Teacher Ratings (TCRS, Hightower et al., 1986)Sociometric NominationsSchool RecordsSelf-Reports

  10. Table 1. Concurrent Correlations between Shyness and Adjustment in Childhood _______________________________________________________ Shyness China Canada _______________________________________________________ Peer acceptance .27*** -.21*** Peer rejection .05 .01 Teacher rated competence .17*** -.30*** Loneliness -.01 .24*** Leadership .29*** Distinguished studentship .29*** Academic achievement .12** _______________________________________________________ Note. N = 612 and 304 in Chinese and Canadian samples respectively.

  11. Table 2. Predictive Relations between Childhood Shyness (8-10 years) and Adolescent Adjustment (12-14 years) in China _____________________________________________________ Adolescent variables Childhood Shyness _____________________________________________________Peer acceptance .29** /-.04 Peer rejection .11 Teacher-rated competence .31*** Leadership .25*** Distinguished studentship .31*** Academic achievement .20** Depression -.01 _____________________________________________________N = 162. Correlations for boys and girls are presented before and after the slash when significant sex differences were found in regressions. * p<.05 ** p<.01 *** p<.001

  12. Social Functioning and Adjustment in Chinese children: The Imprint of Social Change The massive economic reform and social change in China over the last two decades The social ecological perspectives on human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Elder, 1996 Silbereisen, 2000)

  13. Participants: Three cohorts (1990, 1998, 2002) of elementary school children in Shanghai, China N = 429, 390 and 266; M age =10 years Family income (monthly income/ person): 1990: 161 yuan (SD = 243) 1998: 816 yuan (SD = 587) 2002: 1431 yuan (SD = 1836) $1 US = approx. 5.2 yuan in 1990, and 8.3 yuan in 1998 and 2002

  14. Table 3. Effects of Shyness in Predicting Adjustment Variables in Three Cohorts of Children in urban China _________________________________________________________________ Adjustment variable 1990 1998 2002 X2 (df=2) _________________________________________________________________ Peer acceptance .17** .14* -.15* 13.56*** Peer rejection .05 .35*** .34*** 14.34*** Teacher-rated comp. .20*** -.05 -.22*** 25.88*** Leadership .23*** .11* -.11 14.76*** Academic achievement .18*** .07 -.08 9.52** Depression -.06 .01 .22** 11.38** ______________________________________________________ Note. The effect of sex was controlled in the analyses. n = 429, 390 and 266 for 1990, 1998 and 2002 cohorts, respectively. *= p < .05 ** = p < .01 *** = p < .001

  15. Table 4. Effects of Shyness in Predicting Adjustment Variables inRural Children in China _____________________________________________________ Adjustment variables Shyness _____________________________________________________Peer acceptance .30*** Peer rejection .21*** Teacher-rated competence .17*** Leadership .12** Academic achievement .18*** Depression -.02 _____________________________________________________Note.The effect of sex and grade was controlled in the analyses. N = 536. * p<.05 ** p<.01 *** p<.001

  16. Conclusions • - The findings from our projects indicate that the changing social and cultural context may be involved in the process in which specific socioemotional characteristics or behaviors (e.g., shyness-inhibition) are perceived, evaluated and responded to by adults and children. • Social evaluations and responses, in turn, may serve as an important mediator of contextual influence on individual behavior and development. As a result, the developmental patterns and processes of socioemotional functioning may vary across cultures and over historical time.

  17. Figure 2. A Contextual- Developmental Process Model (Chen, in press) Changing social and cultural context socialization beliefs and practices Social interpretations, evaluations, responses Parent-child, peer relationships, groups Dynamic processes Child socio-emotional characteristics e.g., social sensitivity, receptiveness Social functioning, psycho-emotional adjustment e.g., depression Child early disposition, biological influences e.g.,shyness-inhibition Developmental Outcomes Origins Processes

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