Social competence, friendship, and positive emotionality in childhood: is there a direct link?

SCHULZ, A.; OROS, L.B; LEMOS, V.

Edmonton

Congreso; Biennial Meeting of International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD); 2012

Universidad de Alberta

While most definitions of social skills and friendship have an implicit positive emotional component, the relation between these constructs has been scarcely studied. Of the few studies that have addressed this relationship it is known that (a) positive emotions encompass both social consequences and social roots (Fredrickson, 2000), (b) appropriate social skills are not only associated to the absence of difficulties or negative affect but also with the presence of positive emotional and psychological states (Segrin et al., 2007), and (c) positive emotionality has been related to the formation and maintenance of positive social relationships (Bagwell and Schmidt, 2011; Denham et al., 2003; Greco, 2008). This study attempts to make a contribution to the understanding of the relation between social skills, friendship quality and positive affect, especially considering the mediating effect of social skills in the relationship between the quality of friendship and affection positive. Participants consisted of 132 children from 10 to 12 years old (M = 10.88, SD = 0.692) from the city of Paraná, Argentina, who completed measures of positive affect and emotions, social skills and friendship quality. Initial results showed significant individual relations between the social constructs and positive affect. However, when the predictors were incorporated together in a single analysis, social competence, and not friendship quality, showed a significant effect on positive emotionality, suggesting that social skills explain the relationship between friendship quality and positive affect. These results are discussed in terms of the social and emotional development theories and future research directions are suggested.