| dc.description | The present study examined the relationship between peer social behaviours in naturalistic settings and lab-based measures of social understanding. A sample of 120 3- and 4-year-old children were presented with tasks assessing theory of mind, future-oriented self-control and sharing, peer-rated likability and empathic concern. They were also given a standard measure of general language ability. Children were also videotaped during a 10-minute naturalistic peer play session. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires rating children's global social skills, problem behaviours, and mental state concepts. It was hypothesized that older children would perform more successfully on lab-based measures and that their peer social behaviours would be more sophisticated. Results indicated that most of the lab measures, questionnaires, and naturalistic observations discriminated between the 3- and 4-year-olds in the expected direction. Compared to the 3-year-olds, the 4-year-olds achieved higher scores on lab-based measures of social understanding and these abilities enabled them to interact in meaningfully different ways with others. Four-year-olds interactive abilities were also seen as more sophisticated than 3-year-olds by peers, parents, and teachers. Three-year-olds used their restricted abilities in an indiscriminate fashion and were periodically successful in their interactions. In contrast, 4-year-olds showed more purposeful social behaviour. The patterns of data provide evidence of clear developmental differences between age-groups. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for children's social development. | en_US |
