Parents’ and teachers’ opinions of preschool children's social problem-solving and behavioural problems

ABSTRACT

The aim of our study was to shed light on (1) what Hungarian mothers, fathers and teachers of 4–6-year-olds think of these children's social problem-solving (SPS) and their difficulties in terms of problem-solving, adaptability and prosocial behaviour; (2) studying any correlation between the examined aspects and (3) the connection between one's opinion about SPS and some family background variables. We used three questionnaires (a modified version of SPSI-R [D'Zurilla, T. J., Nezu, A., & Maydeu-Olivares, A. (2002). Social problem-solving inventory–revised (SPSI–R): Technical manual. New York, NY: Multi-Health Systems, North Tonawanda]; Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire, [Goodman, R. (2001). Psychometric properties of the strength and difficulty questionnaire. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric, 40(11), 1337–1345]; Conners Parent/Teacher Rating Scale-Revised, [Conners, C. K. (1997). Parent rating scale–revised technical manual. New York, NY: Multi Health Systems, North Tonawanda]) and a background questionnaire in our research. Parents and teachers have different opinions in almost all studied aspects (e.g. positive and negative approach to SPS) and there is also a difference between how mothers and fathers rated most of the factors. Contrary to previous international research in the field, it is not teachers who have the most negative opinion but fathers.

KEYWORDS:

• Parents’ and teachers’ opinions
• social problem-solving
• preschool children
• behavioural problems

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

László Kasik, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Szeged, Institute of Education, and researcher at the University of Szeged Social Competence Research Group. His research interests focus on the development of social problem-solving and coping.

Zita Gál is a lecturer at the University of Szeged Institute of Special Education. Her research fields are theory of mind and social problem-solving.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the European Union and the State of Hungary, co-financed by the European Social Fund in the framework of TÁMOP 4.2.4. A/2-11-1-2012-0001 ‘National Excellence Program’.