CHILDRENS ENACTED INTERPERSONAL STRATEGIES - THEIR RELATIONS TO SOCIAL-BEHAVIOR AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONALITY

Examined were the relations of children's responses to hypothetical so cial problem situations with use of an enactive (puppet) procedure to (a) children's general social behavior at school, (b) behavior in pote ntial social conflict situations (i.e., when angered and reactions to interpersonal problems as rated by adults), and (c) temperamental char acteristics (i.e., emotional intensity and negative affect) that previ ously have been related to children's social competence. Children's en acted friendliness and aggression (primarily for boys) were consistent ly correlated with behavior in problem contexts; they were not signifi cantly correlated with their general social behavior. Girls' enacted a ssertiveness was associated with high levels of social interaction and both positive and negative modes of coping with problems. Relations b etween enacted behaviors and emotionality generally were consistent wi th previous findings. The findings suggest that children's enacted beh avior in puppet situations is related in meaningful ways to their beha vior in interpersonal conflicts.