Bost K K, Vaughn B E, Washington W N, Cielinski K L, Bradbard M R
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Department of Human and Community Development, Urbana 61801, USA.
Child Dev. 1998 Feb;69(1):192-218.
Two studies designed to (1) explore measurement issues for the construct domains of social competence and social support and (2) test a model relating social competence to social support and to child-parent attachment for low-income (primarily African American) preschool children attending Head Start are reported. In Study 1, the definition, measurement, and structure of the social competence construct are evaluated in 2 samples of children. For Study 1A, 167 4-year-old children were assessed with a battery of observation, interview, and Q-sort measures. Relations among the measures suggested a hierarchical structure that was tested using a structural equation model. Results from the analysis supported the conjecture that social competence should be viewed as a hierarchically organized construct. In Study 1B, the model was tested again for a group of 3- and 4-year-old children (n = 265), using a modified set of measures. The general structure of the model from Study 1A was reproduced in this independent sample, although paths from the second-order factor to lower-order factors were not perfectly coordinated across samples. In Study 2, data for a subset of the children in Study 1B (n = 182), gathered with respect to features of their social networks, were examined to assess the structure of their social support networks. Descriptive and structural equation analyses are reported. Sixty-nine of these children were observed at home with their mothers and described using the Waters Attachment Q-sort. A structural equation model testing relations consistent with causal pathways from attachment security to both social support networks and to social competence and from the social support network variable to social competence with peers fit these data with a high degree of confidence. Subsequent analyses locating social competence as antecedent to attachment security were not significant. We conclude that the construct domains of social competence and social support networks can be meaningfully measured for preschool children and that individual differences with respect to these construct domains are related to child-parent relationship qualities.
本文报告了两项研究，旨在：（1）探讨社会能力和社会支持这两个构念领域的测量问题；（2）检验一个模型，该模型将社会能力与社会支持以及低收入（主要是非裔美国人）参加“启智计划”的学龄前儿童的亲子依恋联系起来。在研究1中，在两个儿童样本中评估了社会能力构念的定义、测量方法和结构。对于研究1A，用一系列观察、访谈和Q分类测量方法对167名4岁儿童进行了评估。这些测量方法之间的关系表明了一种层次结构，使用结构方程模型对其进行了检验。分析结果支持了这样的推测，即社会能力应被视为一个层次组织的构念。在研究1B中，使用一组经过修改的测量方法，对另一组3岁和4岁儿童（n = 265）再次检验了该模型。尽管二阶因素到低阶因素的路径在不同样本中并非完全一致，但在这个独立样本中重现了研究1A中模型的总体结构。在研究2中，对研究1B中一部分儿童（n = 182）关于其社会网络特征收集的数据进行了检查，以评估其社会支持网络的结构。报告了描述性和结构方程分析结果。其中69名儿童在家中与母亲一起接受观察，并使用沃特斯依恋Q分类法进行描述。一个结构方程模型检验了与从依恋安全性到社会支持网络和社会能力以及从社会支持网络变量到与同伴的社会能力的因果路径一致的关系，该模型以高度的置信度拟合了这些数据。随后将社会能力定位为依恋安全性前因的分析并不显著。我们得出结论，对于学龄前儿童，可以有意义地测量社会能力和社会支持网络这两个构念领域，并且这些构念领域的个体差异与亲子关系质量有关。
