The Relationship Among Temperament, Social Cognition, and Social Competence in Early Childhood

Abstract

Social competence, a crucial skill for effective functioning, is influenced by temperament and social cognition in early childhood. This study tested whether social cognition mediates the associations between three broad temperament traits (effortful control, surgency, and negative affectivity) and social competence in kindergarten students (N = 88). Teacher-report measures assessed temperament and social competence, and a storytelling task measured social cognition. Effortful control showed significant positive correlations with social cognition and social competence, and social cognition was positively correlated with social competence. Surgency was marginally negatively correlated with social cognition, whereas negative affectivity was not significantly correlated with social cognition or competence. Mediation models were conducted for effortful control and surgency. For effortful control, the direct effect on social competence was significant; however, the indirect effect through social cognition was not supported. The model, including social cognition, accounted for more variance in social competence (34%) than effortful control alone (30%). The surgency model similarly showed no significant indirect effect, though variance explained increased when social cognition was included (17% when included vs. 6% without social cognition). Mediation was not tested for negative affectivity. Overall, although indirect effects were not significant, the findings indicate that including social cognition in models of temperament enhances understanding of children’s developing social skills.