[Differences in doll play of four-year old children of different ethnic groups]

In its psychological development, the child learns social-emotional competences in order to be able to cope with conflicts. Since ethnic diversity increases due to globalization, the influence of the ethnic background on the social competence children development must be investigated furthermore. The present study examines the differences of the social-emotional competences of children of various ethnic groups. To track the social-emotional competence in play, 84 Asian-American, Latin-American and African-American kindergarteners (age = 4) were tested with the Mac Arthur Story Stem Battery and the attachment representation using the Attachment Doll Play manual. There were significant differences in the avoidance of conflict, empathic and moral themes in problem-solving among the ethnic groups. Furthermore, according to ethnic background the children significantly differed in the dimensions of attachment representation, freezing/blocking, constriction and controlling. Since ethnically specific social competence, attachment dimensions and their inter-correlation were found, the children started Kindergarten with differing qualifications. There are indications that the differences in attachment accentuations in children call for ethnic differences in social competence and interpretations of social situations in adults and children.