We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Children's social competence.
- Authors
Smart, Diana; Sanson, Ann
- Abstract
The article authors look at how child characteristics, and the "fit" between parent and child from early in life, might influence social competence in late childhood, at eleven to twelve years of age. It refers to how a child acts, not what a child does. Although it has been suggested that the parent-child fit might have more impact on children's development and well being than temperament or behavioral style itself, it has been hard to find convincing empirical evidence to support this. If parents described their child overall as "more difficult" or "much more difficult" than average, this was seen as an indication of poor fit between child and parent, and of difficulties in the parent-child relationship. Furthermore, parents' capacity to come to terms with their child's temperament, resulting in good parent-child fit, mattered more than the child's temperament per se. The fact the "child difficulty only" group was much larger than both poor parent-child fit groups suggests that most parents find ways of coping with their children and developing good relationships with them, even when their child may be more difficult than average.
- Subjects
SOCIAL skills in children; PROBLEM children; FAMILY relations; CHILD development; PARENT-child relationships; CHILD psychology
- Publication
Family Matters, 2001, Issue 59, p10
- ISSN
1030-2646
- Publication type
Article