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Preschool children's social understanding: a pilot study of goals and strategies during conflict situations

Kerry Kazura1, Rachel Flanders

  • 1University of New Hampshire, Department of Family Studies, School of Health and Human Services, Pettee Hall, 55 College Road, Durham, NH 03824-3599, USA. kerry.kazura@unh.edu

Psychological Reports
|January 8, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Preschool children

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Social information-processing skills are crucial for children's peer interactions.
  • Understanding preschoolers' goals and strategies in conflict is vital for social development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate a novel enactive measure for assessing social information-processing skills in preschoolers.
  • To explore the relationship between preschoolers' conflict goals and their chosen strategies.

Main Methods:

  • A pilot study involving 25 children (ages 3-6) using a puppet interview.
  • Utilized an adapted version of the Children's Conflict Resolution Measure to assess hypothetical conflict situations.

Main Results:

  • Significant correlations were found between children's goals and strategies in conflict resolution.
  • Friendship goals correlated with prosocial strategies.
  • Retaliation goals linked to hostile strategies and fewer prosocial strategies.
  • Avoidance goals correlated with adult-seeking strategies.

Conclusions:

  • Preschoolers' conflict goals are associated with their strategy selection.
  • The enactive measure shows promise for assessing social information-processing skills.
  • Findings highlight the importance of goal endorsement in children's conflict resolution approaches.

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