Trajectories of social-emotional development across pre-primary and early primary school

• Published in: Journal of applied developmental psychology Vol. 75; p. 101297
• Main Authors: Wolf, Sharon, Reyes, Roland S., Weiss, Emily M., McDermott, Paul A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Norwood Elsevier Inc 01-07-2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Children & youth; Demography; Developmental psychology; Developmental trajectories; Elementary schools; Emotional development; Factor analysis; Ghana; Membership; Preschool; Preschool children; Prosocial behavior; Skills; Social development; Social skills; Social-emotional learning; Stress management; Sub-Saharan Africa; Preschool; Developmental trajectories; Ghana; Social-emotional learning; Sub-Saharan Africa
• ISSN: 0193-3973; 1873-7900
• DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2021.101297

Social-emotional (SE) skills grow rapidly during the preschool years and support children's ability to manage stress and form positive relationships. Yet little research exists on how SE skills develop over time, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. We examined the development of prosocial SE skills with four waves of data over three years in a sample of Ghanaian preschoolers (N = 1916; 47.6% female). We used factor analysis and vertical scaling to assess the dimensionality of prosocial SE skills and latent growth mixture modeling to identify subgroups as defined by different trajectories. We found two distinct subgroups—normative, in which children gained SE skills over time, and low-growth, in which children had lower initial skill levels and acquired skills at a slower rate over time. Group membership was associated with demographic characteristics and children's first grade academic outcomes, as well as other important non-academic skills.
•Assess trajectories of social-emotional skills in early childhood over three years.•Two groups were identified—normative and low-growth.•Group membership was associated with demographic characteristics.•Group membership was associated with academic and non-academic outcomes.