This paper has attempted to investigate how children's social network, self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency and the psychological well-being scale are related to each other, and to especially find out if self-perceived competence and ego-resilien...
This paper has attempted to investigate how children's social network, self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency and the psychological well-being scale are related to each other, and to especially find out if self-perceived competence and ego-resiliency create a mediation effect when children’s social networks have an impact on their psychological well-being. Furthermore, this paper has examined how each variable differs depending on children's gender, school achievements, SES, parents’ educational backgrounds and mother’s vocation. This study was conducted with 796 student participants (5th and 6th graders) in four elementary schools in Busan.
To examine children's social networks, the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI, Furman and Buhrmester, 1985), which was adapted by Han Jong-hye (1996), was used. To find out students’ self-perceived competence, the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985), which was adjusted by Park Yeong-ae (1995) for feasibility, was used. For analysis of students’ ego-resiliency, the scale developed by Park Eun-hui (1996) based on the Ego-Resiliency Scale (ER, O'Connell-Higgins, 1983 and Block & Kreman, 1996) was used after reconfiguration through confirmatory factor analysis. To examine children’s psychological well-being, the tool (Park Sang-gyun, 2009) which was customized for elementary students based on the Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS, Ryff, 1989) was used after reconfiguration through confirmatory factor analysis. For verification, SPSS 15.0 and Amos and SAS 9.1 programs were used. This paper has obtained the following results:
In terms of correlation with self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency and psychological well-being, social network revealed static correlation. The self-perceived competence and ego-resiliency also showed high static correlation with psychological well-being. According to an analysis of the impact of the social network on self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency and psychological well-being, friends had the biggest influence on self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency and psychological well-being. Meanwhile, social support and companionship had a static impact on self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency and psychological well-being while conflict·punishment and relative power had a negative impact on them.
Children’s self-perceived competence had a substantial impact on their psychological well-being. In particular, global self-worth was the most influential, followed by social competence, scholastic competence and behavioral conduct in a static manner. Ego-resiliency also had a great impact on psychological well-being. In particular, optimism was the most influential, followed by viability and peer relations.
According to an analysis of the effect of mediation on self-perceived competence, direct and indirect effects were 41.5% and 59.5%, respectively, and a partial mediation model has been adopted. In an analysis of mediation in ego-resiliency, no statistical significance was observed in terms of a direct effect. An indirect effect accounted for 101%, and a complete mediation model was adopted. In other words, social networks had a substantial impact on psychological well-being by mediating ego-resiliency.
According to an analysis on gender difference by variable, no gender difference was detected in ego-resiliency or psychological well-being. Boys had more self-perceived competence than girls. Boys also had more ‘conflict·punishment’ than girls. However, girls had more ‘intimacy’ than boys. In terms of school achievement, a difference was observed in self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency and psychological well-being. In terms of social network, a difference was found in some subordinate factors only. With regard to SES, a difference has been found in self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency and psychological well-being. A higher level of self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency and psychological well-being has been observed as SES was higher. In terms of parents' educational background, a difference was observed in self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency, psychological well-being and the social support and companionship which are the subordinate factors of a social network. The ‘bachelor’s degree or higher’ group was greater than the ‘high school graduates or lower’ group, and no difference was observed between the ‘master’s degree’ group and the ‘bachelor’s degree’ group. In terms of mother’s vocation, no difference was detected in self-perceived competence, ego-resiliency, psychological well-being, social support, conflict·punishment, relative power or intimacy. In companionship alone, the ‘working mother’ group was greater than the housewife group.