Abstract
It is important for young children that enter kindergarten and initiate peer relationships to understand and keep promises, which is one of the essential rules of interpersonal relationships. It is also considered important to have question when promises are broken, to protect one’s rights and dignity, as well as for adapting to social life. This study investigated children’s questioning attitudes when promises are broken through behavioral characteristics observed during experimental tasks and related factors, by focusing on their temperament, gender, and promises that are made to their parents at home. Pairs of mothers and their children in children（ N=40） participated in an experiment. Children were promised that they would receive sweets as a reward and the promise was broken during the experiment, and their attitudes were observed. There were gender differences in attitudes and promises at home in some of the children. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that questioning attitudes were more strongly expressed by boys than girls, and temperament was not related to their questioning attitudes. Furthermore, the attitudes were more strongly expressed by children raised in a family in which more promises than by children raised in a family in which fewer promises are made.
