Mapping children’s school readiness: insights from network analysis

Abstract

Children's school readiness is widely recognized as a critical foundation for successful school adjustment. However, there has been considerable debate about what abilities are most influential and how they interact. To address this, the present study explored six domains of school readiness, including self-regulation (SR), social emotions (SE), mathematics, teacher–child relationships, approaches to learning, and social behaviours, and used network analysis to map their interconnections. Data was drawn from 359 Chinese preschoolers aged 3–6 years. Our findings suggest that the school readiness network exhibited stability, with indicators forming a closely interconnected cluster. Notably, the strongest links were observed between SR and mathematics, as well as between SR and SE. SR emerged as the central node. Importantly, there were no significant differences between boys’ and girls’ school readiness networks. This study highlights SR as a central factor in shaping school readiness and emphasizes its potential as a target for interventions.