Conference Agenda

A positive peer climate is an important prerequisite for academic engagement in kindergarten classrooms, yet it is unclear how individuals’ social skills contribute to positive peer relations at the classroom level. To examine these associations, we assessed children’s social skills in direct assessments with vignettes and a behavioral task. We hypothesize that children’s observed behavior is more predictive of peer climate than children’s hypothetical scenario responses. Interpersonal negotiation strategies were assessed using a short version of the SERAIS (Kim & Tubbs Dolan, 2019), delivered through an app. Children were presented with three vignettes depicting challenging social situations with peers—such as not being asked to join a game or having their artwork damaged by spilled water—and were asked to indicate whether they would employ certain negotiation strategies, e.g. appeal to authority, aggression and resolution oriented. Children’s cooperative skills were evaluated in a collaborative problem-solving task with the BASES (Lieb et al., 2023). In groups of up to six peers, children solved a puzzle. Their behavior was evaluated from video recordings of these sessions using a detailed scoring manual. Peer climate was assessed through a teacher questionnaire. Participants included 654 children of the first cohort of the LEAPS study, in their first year of kindergarten (M(age) = 60 months; SD(age) = 4 months), from 94 classrooms. Data collection has been completed, and the rating process is currently underway. The findings will be discussed regarding their practical and research implications.

The development of emotional competence is a major milestone in early childhood and is interconnected with other developmental areas. Providing a key foundation for children’s healthy development, emotional competance has been identified as having short- and long-term impact on children’s social development and behavioral adjustment (Valiente et al., 2020). Studies have also shown that skills comprising emotional competence are crucial for successful social relations in preschool children (Lemerise & Harper, 2014).Being able to form positive peer relationships is also critical for children’s healthy development and their concurrent and later psychosocial adjustment (Denham, 2007). The present study therefore aims to investigate associations between preschoolers’ emotional competence and their relationships with peers. Based on previous research, we hypothesized that there would be a positive association between both emotion knowledge and emotion regulation competence and the quality of preschooler’s relationships with peers. 113 children (M = 46.4 months, SD = 6.6; 45% girls) from Swiss playgroups were observed playing with randomly assigned peers in semi-standardizes dyadic play situations. Videorecorded play situations were then coded using the Emotion Regulation Scoring System (ERSS). Children’s emotion knowledge was assessed with the Adaptive Test of Emotion Knowledge (ATEM). Furthermore, playgroup educators completed the SOCOMP questionnaire on children’s peer relationship quality. First results suggest that both emotion knowledge and emotion regulation but, most importantly, regulation strategies that children use during play situations seem to be relevant for the quality of peer relationships in preschool classrooms. The results underscore the importance of emotional competence in early peer relationships.

Emotion regulation (ER) is a process that occurs when the experience and/or expression of emotion risk compromising the goals and expectations of the individual and/or social partners and leads to changes in intensity, duration or type of emotion. Deficits in ER are considered to be a predictor of lower academic achievement, well-being and more externalizing behavior cross-sectionally and longitudinally. The emotional and behavioral support (EBS) of early childhood professionals can be regarded as a protective factor that weakens the negative relationship between ER and externalizing behavior.

ER was observed with the Emotion Regulation Scoring System (ERSS) at timepoint one, when N = 99 preschool children (Mage: 44.87 months; 40% girls) participated in a semi-standardized group situation on the playgroup premises. On the same day of visit the EBS in the playgroups (N = 16) was assessed with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS Toddler) during the daily routine. The playgroup educators reported on the children’s conduct problems and hyperactivity with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) on three timepoints. Due to the nested structure of the dataset, analyses will be conducted with the use of mixed linear models with cross-level interaction.

It is hypothesized that lower scores of observed ER are associated with a stronger increase of reported conduct problems and hyperactivity while higher levels of EBS will weaken the expected relationship. The results will contribute to highlight the positive impact early childhood professionals have on the life of children if the quality of interactions is high.

Experiences in early childhood are important for the development of behavior regulation. Various prevention programs therefore aim to strengthen favorable developmental conditions from birth - especially in psychosocially stressed families. However, the medium and long-term effects of early interventions on social-emotional skills have rarely been investigated to date. Against this background, we address the question whether early support with the home visiting program «Parents as Teachers» (PAT) has a positive effect on the development of behavioral regulation at preschool and school age.

The data was collected in the ZEPPELIN longitudinal study in communities around Zurich, Switzerland. In this randomized controlled trial, 248 psychosocially stressed families with 261 newborns were assigned to the intervention group (IG; n = 139) or the control group (KG; n = 122). Families in the IG were supported with PAT during the first three years of the child's life. Families in the CG received no intervention apart from the general services provided by the communities.

After completion of the intervention at the age of three, experiments on self-control show that children from the IG have better self-regulatory skills than children from the CG. In the first and second kindergarten, the advantages of the intervention group over the control group are again evident. Analyses for school age indicate that early support with PAT also has a positive effect on children's behavior regulation in the second year of primary school.

The results are discussed regarding the strengthening of self-regulatory skills in children from psychosocially disadvantaged families.