Preschoolers' social information processing and early school success: the challenging situations task

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Susanne A Denham1, Erin Way, Sara C Kalb

  • 1Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA. sdenham@gmu.edu

The British Journal of Developmental Psychology
|May 11, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Preschoolers

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social-Emotional Learning

Background:

  • Social information processing (SIP) is crucial for children's development.
  • Understanding preschoolers' emotional and behavioral responses to peer provocation is key.
  • Previous research has not fully integrated emotional responses into SIP measures for young children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess social information processing (SIP) responses in preschoolers.
  • To examine the relationship between emotions, behavior choices, and school adjustment.
  • To investigate the predictive validity of SIP measures in early childhood.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed SIP responses in 298 preschoolers (age 4) from diverse childcare settings.
  • Measured children's emotional and behavioral decisions in hypothetical peer provocation scenarios.
  • Analyzed relations between emotion, behavior, and school adjustment using statistical methods.

Main Results:

  • Children most frequently reported sad/angry emotions and chose socially competent/passive behaviors.
  • Sad emotions correlated with socially competent behaviors; angry emotions with aggressive behaviors.
  • Sad emotions and socially competent behaviors predicted school adjustment and academic readiness.

Conclusions:

  • Integrating emotion into SIP measures is vital for understanding child development.
  • This SIP measure demonstrates predictive validity in a large preschool sample.
  • Findings highlight pathways for improving social-emotional skills and school readiness.

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