The Relationship between Preschool Children's Representation of Attachment and Their Relationship to Teachers, Social Skills, and Behavior Problems

The Relationship between Preschool Children's Representation of Attachment and Their Relationship to Teachers, Social Skills, and Behavior Problems

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between children's attachment representation and teacher-child relationships, a long with children's social skills and their behavior problems. The subjects were 57 children (31 boys and 26 girls) from intact middle class families aged from 3 to 5 attending preschools and/or day care centers. Four instruments were used: First, Attachment Story Completion Task for assessing children's attachment; second, Student-Teacher Relationship Scale for identifying the teachers' perception on the quality of the relationship between children and teachers; third, Social Skill Scale from Child Behavior Assessment Inventory for assessing children's social skills; and finally, Child Behavior Scale for examining children's behavior problem. Descriptive statistics were calculated and simple correlation was applied for data analysis. The research results are as follows: First, the children's attachment security was significantly related to their relationships to teachers. Children with more secure representations of attachment and less avoidant responses exhibited closer relationships with teachers than those with more insecure representations of attachment and more avoidant responses. Second, children with more secure representations of attachment and less avoidant responses showed more socially cooperative interactions and greater independence than those with more insecure representations of attachment and more avoidant responses. The former case of children showed more social competency while the latter one exhibited more aggressive and hyperactive behavior