The relationship between leadership and sociometric status among preschool children

A Escolha dos Líderes e a Compreensão Emocional na Educação Pré-Escola

Este estudo teve por objectivo perceber a importância que as variáveis pessoais, as relações interpessoais e a compreensão emocional poderão ter na escolha de um líder em crianças a frequentar o Ensino Pré-Escolar. Participaram quarenta e cinco crianças, 46,7% do sexo feminino e 53,3% do sexo masculino, com idades entre os três e seis anos, da Região Autónoma da Madeira (RAM). Os resultados mostraram que o sexo  e ter irmãos, bem como, a preferência social, o impacto social, o estatuto social influenciam a escolha para líder. Da compreensão emocional só a regulação emocional mostrou estar associada a esta escolha.

Controlling relationships in preschool children

In order to facilitate the comprehension of social structure in preschool children, our research has two foci: first, to define controlling behaviours (nonaggressive group organisation) and to determine their organisational principles, and second, to analyse the relation of the controlling behaviours with aggressive behaviours. Through direct observation, the behaviour of 90 preschoolers aged 4–5 years old during free playtime was registered. A correspondence analysis revealed that two organisational principles structure controlling relationships, one related to authority and another to acquiescence. The independence of these two dimensions suggests the existence of a social hierarchy in preschoolers’ playgroups based on controlling behaviour. No significant relation between authoritative and aggressive behaviours in 4-year-old children was detected, while 5-year-old children with high levels of authoritative behaviour were less aggressive than individuals with low levels. Our results point out that controlling activity is relevant in the organisation of preschool children’s social groups. Children’s goal development probably determines the change of the behavioural strategies that facilitate the evolution of social structure from aggressive to controlling hierarchies. We judge it necessary for research to focus on controlling interactions.

Reciprocal and Complementary Sibling Interactions: Relations with Socialization Outcomes in the Kindergarten Classroom

RESEARCH FINDINGS

To examine associations between sibling interaction patterns and later social outcomes in single- and two-parent families, 113 kindergarteners took part in naturalistic observations at home with siblings, classmates participated in sociometric interviews, and teachers completed behavior ratings. Sibling interactions were coded using a newly-developed 39-item checklist, and proportions of complementary and reciprocal sibling interactions computed. Complementarity occurred more among dyads where kindergartners were with toddler or infant siblings than among kindergartners with older or near-age younger siblings. Higher levels of complementarity predicted lower levels of internalizing but were not related to externalizing problems. Kindergartners' sociometric status in the classroom differed as a function of sibling interaction patterns, with neglected and controversial children experiencing less complementarity/more reciprocity than popular, average, and rejected children. Finally, there was some evidence for differential associations of sibling interaction patterns with social outcomes for children in single- versus two-parent families: regressions testing interaction effects show sibling reciprocity positively associated with kindergartners' social skills only in single-parent families, and complementary sibling interactions positively related to internalizing problems only in two-parent families.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Those working with divorcing or other single-parent families might consider sibling interactions as a potential target for social skill building.

Do left-handed children have advantages regarding school performance and leadership skills?

A handedness polymorphism exists in all human populations so far investigated, at least since the Palaeolithic. Handedness is a heritable trait, and a possible evolutionary explanation for the higher prevalence of right-handers is the association of left-handedness with some deleterious traits. In this context, the persistence of left-handers remains unexplained. Reproductive success has been shown to be dependent on cultural success in many human societies. This study is the first attempt to consider the importance of social status to evolutionary processes related to handedness. We conducted a survey in French public primary schools to look for a possible association between laterality, school performance, and leadership skills. This study revealed only weak associations, and a sex effect. For primary-school girls, we report a negative association between several indicators of left-sidedness and teacher's ratings of school performance and leadership skills. For primary-school boys, we report a positive association between left-handedness for writing and teacher's ratings of school performance. The present study did not reveal any strong relation between laterality and school performance, but has shown that general school performance is not independent of laterality, and that the effect is opposite in males and females. The main difficulty is now to define clearly the different intellectual functions involved.