The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of the popularity of infants to their peer competence and use of social language and the relationship between their peer competence and use of social language in an attempt to contribute to hav...
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of the popularity of infants to their peer competence and use of social language and the relationship between their peer competence and use of social language in an attempt to contribute to having a better understanding of their peer relationship and sociability development.
The research questions were posed as below:
1. Does the popularity of infants make any differences to their peer competence?
2. Does the popularity of infants make any differences to their use of social language?
3. What is the relationship between the peer competence of infants and their use of social language?
The subjects in this study were 30 infants who were selected from among 52 infants in two different classes for Western age 5 in a daycare center located in Gyeonggi province according to their popularity. They involved both stars and non-stars. A peer rating was used to gauge their popularity, and in order to assess their peer competence, Lee Hyeon-ju(2002)'s Korean version of Ladd & Profelt(1996)'s Child Behavior Scale and Park Ju-hui & Lee Eun-hye(2001)'s Peer Competence Scale were modified to serve the purpose of the study through the help of an expert in early childhood education. As to the use of social language, Pelligrini(1982)'s Social Language Analysis Standards that covered seven categories were converted into six-category ones according to the purpose of the study.
For data handling, t-test was utilized, and correlation coefficients were calculated.
The findings of the study were as follows:
First, the infants were different from one another in peer competence according to popularity. The popular infants were more prosocial and sociable than the unpopular infants, and the latter was more aggressive, rejective and unstable than the former.
In other words, the infants who were better received by peers were more friendly and prosocial, and those who were less received were more hostile and aggressive.
Second, the type of social language they spoke in daily routine life varied with their popularity. The stars used more demanding, conclusive and responsive words than the non-stars, and the latter spoke more intermediating, competitive and directive language than the former. Among the subvariables of the type of social language, the stars asked more questions calling for a particular action, which belonged to demanding, and in terms of responding, they reacted more to those who asked for information and gave a more frequent approval. In contrast, the unpopular infants spoked in a more assertive and commanding tone, which respectively belonged to competitive and directive language.
Third, there was a significant correlation between the peer competence and social language of the infants.
Those who were more aggressive, rejective and unstable in terms of peer competence spoked competitive and directive language more often, and those who were more prosocial and friendly spoked competitive and directive language more less.