SOCIAL COMPETENCE, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND ATTACHMENT - DEMARCATION OF CONSTRUCT DOMAINS, MEASUREMENT, AND PATHS OF INFLUENCE FOR PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN ATTENDING HEAD-START

Two studies designed to (1) explore measurement issues for the constru ct domains of social competence and social support and (2) test a mode l relating social competence to social support and to child-parent att achment for low-income (primarily African American) preschool children attending Head Start are reported. Ln Study 1, the definition, measur ement, and structure of the social competence construct are evaluated in 2 samples of children. For Study 1A, 167 4-year-old children were a ssessed with a battery of observation, interview, and Q-sort measures. Relations among the measures suggested a hierarchical structure that was tested using a structural equation model. Results from the analysi s supported the conjecture that social competence should be viewed as a hierarchically organized construct. In Study 1B, the model was teste d again for a group of 3- and 4-year-old children (it = 265), using a modified set of measures. The general structure of the model from Stud y 1A was reproduced in this independent sample, although paths from th e second-order factor to lower-order factors were not perfectly coordi nated across samples. Ln Study 2, data for a subset of the children in Study 1B (n = 182), gathered with respect to features of their social networks, were examined to assess the structure of their social suppo rt networks. Descriptive and structural equation analyses are reported . Sixty nine of these children were observed at home with their mother s and described using the Waters Attachment Q-sort. A structural equat ion model testing relations consistent with causal pathways from attac hment security to both social support networks and to social competenc e and from the social support network variable to social competence wi th peers fit these data with a high degree of confidence. Subsequent a nalyses locating social competence as antecedent to attachment securit y were not significant. We conclude that the construct domains of soci al competence and social support networks can be meaningfully measured for preschool children and that individual differences with respect t o these construct domains are related to child-parent relationship qua lities.