Korean J Child Stud. 1988; 9(1): 81-91.

The Relationship between Social Competence and Popularity in Children

아동의 사회적 능력과 인기도간의 관계

한성희

Seong Hee Han

The present research studied the relationship between children`s social competence and popularity and examined popularity variables for the prediction of children`s social competence. The subjects of this study were 80 children, 40 boys and 40 girls at age 5. Children`s social competence was measured by the children`s teachers with the use of the Social Competence Scale (Kohn & Rossman, 1972). Children`s popularity and unpopularity were obtained from the subjects with the use of Moore`s (1973) Sociometric Status Test. Teacher`s estimate of the popularity of children was obtained with the use of Connolly & Doyle`s (1981) Teacher Rankings of Popularity. The analysis of the data was by Pearson`s Correlation Coefficient, and Stepwise Multiple Regression. There were significant relationships between children`s social competence and popularity (children`s popularity, children`s unpopularity, teacher`s popularity). Teacher`s estimate of child`s popularity was the best variable with which to predict children`s social competence, the second best variable was children`s popularity as measured by Moore`s Sociometric Test.