A longitudinal study to explore ways of children’s competencies on interpersonal relationship (from early childhood to elementary school): focusing on qualitative transformation of their collaborative competencies

Abstract

In this four-year longitudinal study, the authors explored how children develop their self-control and interpersonal collaborative skills. The total of 318 children in five regions across the country participated in this study when they had been 4 years old to 2nd grade. The average of the whole group observational rates of the collaborative and self-control competencies increased along with the ages. However, to illustrate the four-year transformation by dividing the data into high and low groups with median quartiles, the collaborative and self-control competencies were distributed in 16 types, which depicted children developed the competencies with their own pattern individually. This study suggested the social and emotional competencies do not follow a constant developmental curve, therefore, high quality care and education is necessarily in order to foster the children’s collaborative competencies.