The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the temperament and family environments of preschoolers on their peer competence. The subjects were 335 preschoolers aged 3 to 5 in the city of Daejeon.
The instrument used in this study to eval...
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the temperament and family environments of preschoolers on their peer competence. The subjects were 335 preschoolers aged 3 to 5 in the city of Daejeon.
The instrument used in this study to evaluate the temperament of the preschoolers was Cheon Hee-young(1992)'s Preschooler Temperament Rating Scale, and the instrument used to assess their family environments was Kim Jeong-mi & Gwak Geung-ju(2007)'s inventory that modified and validated Caldwell & Bradley(2003)'s Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment(HOME) for preschoolers aged 3 and 6 to serve Korean circumstances. To check the peer competence of the preschoolers, Park Ju-hee & Lee Eun-hye(2001)'s inventory was utilized. The findings of the study were as follows:
First, there were significant gender differences in overall peer competence and prosociability, one of the peer competence subfactors. The preschool girls excelled the preschool boys in overall peer competency and prosociability.
Second, in temperament, better adaptability and higher activity level led to better overall peer competence, better sociality and better prosociability. The latter two were the subfactors of peer competence. Better emotionality was followed by better prosociability. In terms of family environments, higher responsiveness and better instrumental diversity led to better overall peer competence, and better responsiveness or instrumental diversity and more affluent physical environments were followed by better initiative.
Third, the peer competence of the preschoolers was under the influence of their adaptability, activity level, responsiveness and instrumental diversity. The former two were the subfactors of temperament, and the latter two were the subfactors of family environments.
The findings showed that the temperament and family environments of the preschoolers had an impact on their peer competence.