Links Among Italian Preschoolers’ Socioemotional Competence, Teacher–Child Relationship Quality, and Peer Acceptance

Abstract

Research Findings: The purpose of the present study was to examine the relations among teacher–child relationship quality (close, conflictive, and dependent), children's social behavior, and peer likability in a sample of Italian preschool-age children (46 boys, 42 girls). Preschool teachers evaluated the quality of the teacher–child relationship and children's social behaviors (i.e., social competence, anger-aggression, and anxiety-withdrawal). Peer-rated likability was measured using a sociometric procedure. Results indicated that conflictual teacher–child relationships were related to high aggressive behavior, and dependent teacher–child relationships were positively associated with children's anxiety-withdrawal. Moreover, we found an indirect association between close teacher–child relationship quality and peer likability through children's social competence. Practice or Policy: The findings provide evidence that the teacher–child relationship is critical for children's social behaviors and that social competence is uniquely related to peer likability.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by funding from The Ministry of University and Research, Italy (MUIR; 2007PBNFZA_002) and from Sapienza, University of Rome (c26A093BPT) and by funding from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD: R01HD068522) that partially supported the second author's time.

Notes

Note. All variables are unstandardized for ease of interpretation.

^† p < .10. **p < .01.

^a Gender was coded as 0 (boys) and 1 (girls).

*p < .05. **p < .01.