Zhu Zhu, Jiao Dandan, Li Xiang, Zhu Yantong, Kim Cunyoen, Ajmal Ammara, Matsumoto Munenori, Tanaka Emiko, Tomisaki Etsuko, Watanabe Taeko, Sawada Yuko, Anme Tokie
School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, 305-8577 Japan.
Faculty of Preschool and Special Education, Xuzhou Kindergarten Teachers College, Xuzhou, 221004 China.
Curr Psychol. 2022 May 3:1-12. doi: 10.1007/s12144-022-03171-2.
The diversity of child social skills development is not well detected among Asian countries. Culturally validated assessments are needed for practitioners to evaluate child social skills. This study tested the measurement invariance of the Social Skill Scale (SSS) across Japanese and Chinese samples and explored country differences in child social skills development. The SSS utilizes a widely used factor structure (assertion, self-control, and cooperation subdomains) and has established Japanese and Chinese versions. We conducted investigations with an identical process and materials with different language versions, collecting data from 931 Japanese kindergarten children (M = 4.35, SD = 1.07; 53.6% boys) and from 1130 Chinese kindergarten children (M = 4.47, SD = 1.00; 52.3% boys). We used multiple confirmatory factor analysis to test measurement invariance of the SSS and established the validity, reliability, and scalar measurement invariance for the first-order factor structure of the SSS across the two country samples. We also examined country differences on the associations between demographics, parenting practice, and child social skills development. We found that, compared to the Chinese sample, cooperation skills significantly increased more with age among the Japanese sample. However, spanking was negatively related to self-control skills development in both countries. Our findings contribute to the demonstration of the diversity of child social skills development and have important implications for assessing and developing child social skills using culture-specific strategies.
亚洲国家之间儿童社交技能发展的多样性尚未得到充分体现。从业者需要经过文化验证的评估工具来评估儿童的社交技能。本研究检验了社交技能量表（SSS）在日本和中国样本中的测量不变性，并探讨了两国儿童社交技能发展的差异。SSS采用了一种广泛使用的因素结构（断言、自我控制和合作子领域），并已建立了日语和中文版本。我们使用不同语言版本的相同流程和材料进行调查，收集了931名日本幼儿园儿童（M = 4.35，SD = 1.07；53.6%为男孩）和1130名中国幼儿园儿童（M = 4.47，SD = 1.00；52.3%为男孩）的数据。我们使用多重验证性因素分析来检验SSS的测量不变性，并建立了SSS一阶因素结构在两个国家样本中的有效性、可靠性和标量测量不变性。我们还研究了人口统计学、育儿实践与儿童社交技能发展之间关联的国家差异。我们发现，与中国样本相比，日本样本中合作技能随年龄增长的增幅更大。然而，在两国中，打屁股与自我控制技能的发展均呈负相关。我们的研究结果有助于证明儿童社交技能发展的多样性，并对使用特定文化策略评估和培养儿童社交技能具有重要意义。
