Relationship of the family environment with social competence and behavioral problems in Early Childhood Education children

Abstract

Introduction. Current family education has had to adapt to the different changes generated by the society of the 21st century. The main objective of this investigation is to determine the relationship between the family social environment and the involvement in joint family activities, with the social competence of children in the Early Childhood Education stage. Several investigations show that the scarce quality time dedicated by parents to their children, the poor involvement in their education, or the lack of knowledge about adequate parenting guidelines, could favor the early appearance of behavioral problems in children. Method. A total of 560 parents and legal guardians of children from 3 to 6 years old from Early Childhood Education participated in the present study. They answered, through a virtual survey, to different aspects related to their personal and professional characteristics, to the functioning of their families and to their children’s behavior. Correlational and single-factor variance analyses were used to evaluate the relationships between family characteristics and children’s social competence. Results. The results show that parenting styles characterized by dialogue, in which parents share time with their children to talk about school, their concerns, or participate jointly in leisure or eating activities, are related to a greater social competence in their children. Discussion and conclusions. In line with previous investigations, an adequate family environment, with high cohesion, expressiveness, and time-sharing, is related to a greater social adjustment and lower levels of behavioral problems in childhood. This supports the importance of the family, as the first context of socialization, in the social and personal adjustment of its members.