by Seji Lee

Social Competence Scale

Social competence refers to a child’s ability to interact and cooperate with peers in a variety of social situations, as well as the ability to explore the environment with curiosity, and to have self-regulation and responsibility (Human Early Learning Partnership, 2019). This scale measures an interest in learning, a willingness to explore new things, and overall social ability to demonstrate respect and responsibility (Human Early Learning Partnership, 2019). Vulnerable on this scale, children may find difficulties to comply with regulations and may have trouble getting along with peers. In addition, if this vulnerability persists, it may lead to a lack of self-control and difficulties in various social situations (Gebauer et al., 2015).

Genetic & Environmental Influences

The process of one’s development is to the outcome of the complex mechanism on the dynamic developmental procedures which work together both genetic and environmental context. genetic, and environmental factors in the development process are somewhat difficult to distinguish explain in different lines. The factors influencing development are generally related to exposure to different types of pregnancy and early life environments, such as prenatal and post maternal stress, maternal nutritional status, maternal infections and immune activation. In addition, exposure to these stresses or infections during the developmental periods also increases the risk of later depression, schizophrenia, and autism spectrum disorders. Neurodevelopment and related disorders have been demonstrated a relationship with maternal exposure to stress, eating disorders and infections during pregnancy and early postnatal period, through studies using a variety of animal models. These studies also show that the outcome and long-term sustainability of dynamic epigenetic markers is influenced by factors such as the timing and type of exposure, the sex of the child or the sex of the parents. Therefore, when brain functions developed through exposure during pregnancy or after birth respond to the overall situation of life, various stressful diseases may develop through the correspondence between the expected environment and the actual environment, which may also lead to resilience (Conradt, 2017).

The article “Resilience in children and youth: A review” by Zolkoski, S. and L. Bullock (2012), presents the outcome of the interaction of a range of individual and environmental factors influences child vulnerability. Those risk factors might include limited access to leisure activities, limited parental understanding of child development and education, poor quality housing so on.Especially, family economic risks in the development of the environment context are related to their ability of social competence, such as academic success and self-regulation (Conradt, 2017). Therefore, children exposed to these stressful situations are likely to lack social skills and may deviate from the normal development process. However, some children are much susceptible on those stressors while others are relatively unaffected though in the similar environmental context. These children tend to have the temperament to cope with the early-life stress. Studies have shown that children with low negative affect and high levels of control are less likely to be negatively affected by situations that induce a variety of stressors. It may lead to be able to manage better behavioral function in performing social skills. On the other hand, low levels of positively influenced temperament have been shown to exacerbate negative parenting and children’s behavior problems in both external and internal settings. (Maat, et al., 2021).

Social competence Vulnerability in Willingdon Heights

The area ‘Willingdon Heights’ in BC demonstrates a relatively lower level of vulnerability among kindergarten-aged children. The population has a slightly higher education background, employment rate, income level than the average of BC’s.  Total number of children in Willingdon Heights is 200 out of 1753 in Burnaby School District and the number of vulnerable children is 26 while 299 children are vulnerable in the school district. Vulnerability level of social competence in Willingdon Heights 13% while average at 17% in the district area (Human Early Learning Partnership, 2016). Willingdon Heights’ vulnerability is stable in the long-term (wave 2-7), however, is a meaningful decrease in the short-term (wave 6-7). Although the level of wave 6 was second highest, it declined 7% difference in wave 7 in which indicates one of the lowest levels among trends (Wave 7 Community Profile, 2019).

Evidence-Based Interventions for Vulnerable Children on Social Competence; Video Modeling

Children who are vulnerable to social competence tend to have difficulty developing overall social skills (e.g., starting conversation, or presenting a good reaction when given question or instructions). The vulnerable behaviors would reveal through various ways for children. For instance, when expected working or playing cooperatively with peers, they might not be able to understand other’s emotions during play or not familiar with playing together. Also, shown inappropriate emotional expression in social situations. The suggestion for improving individual’s overall social competence considers for using video modeling. Video modeling is a video intervention that helps viewers to take desired behaviors in the context of a social situation. Viewers can model after watching videos that demonstrate different social situation (Mitsch, & Buchter, 2021). The effectiveness of this intervention in developing children’s social skills is that can be applied in everyday life by learning the differences given in each situation, they can be developed an appropriate judgment and interaction skills with peers. the vulnerable children can experience various social situations that can develop appropriate responsiveness by the intervention. Therefore, children with weak social skills develop the ability to respond to various situations through video modeling (Mitsch, & Buchter, 2021).

Reference

Conradt, E. (2017). Using Principles of Behavioral Epigenetics to Advance Research on Early Life Stress. Child Development Perspectives, 11(2), 107–112. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12219

Gebauer-Bukurov, K., Markovic, J., Sekulic, S., & Bozic, K. (2015). Social competence among well-functioning adolescents with epilepsy. Epilepsy & Behavior, 42, 54–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2014.11.004

Human Early Learning Partnership. (2016). 2016 Census (NH). University of British Columbia. Retrieved from http://earlylearning.ubc.ca/maps/data/

Human Early Learning Partnership (2019). Human EDI Wave 7 Community Profile. University of British Columbia. Retrieved from http://earlylearning.ubc.ca/maps/edi/#commProfiles

Maat, D. A., Schuurmans, I. K., Jongerling, J., Metcalf, S. A., Lucassen, N., Franken, I. H. A., Prinzie, P., & Jansen, P. W. (2021). Early life stress and behavior problems in early childhood: Investigating the contributions of child temperament and executive functions to resilience. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13663

Mitsch, M. K., Riggleman, S., & Buchter, J. M. (2021). Responding to Young Children’s Social Emotional Needs through Video Modeling. Young Exceptional Child

Zolkoski, S. M., & Bullock, L. M. (2012). Resilience in children and youth: A review. Children   and Youth Services Review, 34(12), 2295–2303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.08.009