Interaction Quality and Children’s Social-Emotional Competence in Norwegian ECEC

Author
Løkken, I. M., Broekhuizen, M. L., Barnes, J., Moser, T., Bjørnestad, E.
Year
2018

Purpose

The study investigates the relationship between the interaction quality in Norwegian toddler departments when the children are three years old and the children’s social and emotional competence. The research question is whether the interaction quality is related to the children’s socio-emotional competence, and any changes in this competence, from the ages of three to five years old. The hypothesis, in line with previous research, is that there is a positive correlation between interaction quality and socio-emotional competence, both current and longitudinal. 

Result

The study finds few significant positive correlations between the interaction quality in the toddler departments and the children’s socio-emotional competence, both in the cross-sectional study and from a longitudinal perspective. The results show a significant correlation between the interaction quality and the children’s level of empathy at the age of three. In addition, the analysis shows that there is a marginally significant correlation between the interaction quality in toddler departments and the children’s level of self-control when they are five years old. Apart from these results, no correlations were found between interaction quality and the children’s socio-emotional competence. 

Design

The sample consists of 206 Norwegian toddler departments with a total of 1199 children. Interaction quality was analysed using the ITERS-R assessment scale (assessment scale for infant/toddler environments). The researchers focused on four factors in particular: supervision of play and learning, interaction between children, interaction between children and adults, and discipline. The children’s socio-emotional competence was measured using the six dimensions of the LSCIP scale (The Norwegian Lamer Social Competence in Preschool scale): 1) prosocial behaviour 2) self-control 3) assertiveness 4) adjustment 5) empathy and 6) fairness. Multilevel models were used to investigate relationships between the interaction quality and the children’s socio-emotional competence when they were three and five years old. 

References

Løkken, I. M., Broekhuizen, M. L., Barnes, J., Moser, T. & Bjørnestad, E. (2018). “Interaction Quality and Children’s Social-Emotional Competence in Norwegian ECEC”. Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, 7(2):338–361.

Financed by

The Research Council of Norway, Norway