9514563 Vaughn This project is an investigation of individual, relational, and socio-ecological factors supporting children's social competence among peers in a sample of 3-4-year-old children in center-based child care settings. Data gathered with reference to child- caregiver attachment, child temperament, features of the social support network, life events/daily hassles, and attributes of the peer setting itself are used to test a formal model of supports for children's social competence in a sample broadly representative of working and middle class families across a range of ethnic groups in the State of Alabama. Latent variables in the formal model are derived from multiple, independent variables assessed concretely. The model posits both direct and indirect pathways of influence from family relationships to peer social competence. Data gathered will afford opportunities to explore emerging structural and supportive properties of young children's social networks from both mother and child perspectives and explorations of the mothers' networks as influences on children's networks. Also examined will be influences of parent-child attachment and child temperament on children's social competence with peers. Finally, the data will provide opportunities to evaluate effects of life events stress and daily hassles on attributes of the social network and on social competence. Because samples will be drawn across a broad range of socio-demographic parameters, it will also be possible to test influences on social competence from levels of social organization such as "classroom," "neighborhood," and socioeconomic status position. %%% This 3-year project investigates individual, relational, and socio-ecological factors supporting children's social competence among peers in a sample of 3-4-year-old children in center-based child care settings. A sample of families will be recruited in each project year that covers the spectrum of ethnicity an d income levels targeted in the study, in approximate proportion to the population of the State of Alabama. Approximately 25% of the sample in each project year will come from African-American background and approximately 50% of the sample in each project year will have family incomes below the median income level in Alabama. Information gathered in the course of the project will test a formal model that hypothesizes direct and indirect influences of family relationships and child temperament on peer social competence and on attributes of children's social networks. Peer competence is assessed in the context of child care classrooms. Home visits are used to observe parent-child interactions relevant to the quality of their relationships. Social networks and life events stresses are evaluated from interviews with both the parent and child. The data collection plan and analytic strategies afford opportunities to assess the influences of the classroom, the neighborhood, and various socioeconomic indicators on both the social support networks and peer social competence. Results from this study may be used to inform policy concerning optimal timing of group care experiences for preschool children, and will also be relevant to evaluating the relative influences of families, classroom social and physical environments, and informal social support networks on children's sense of well-being. ***
