Creating a Structural Measurement Model of Socialization of Social-Emotional Competence: The Contribution of CLASS and FOCAL-T

Samantha Plourde Karalus

Advisor: Susanne A Denham, PhD, Department of Psychology

Committee Members: Timothy W. Curby, Hideko Bassett

Research Hall, #161
April 06, 2016, 01:00 PM to 10:00 AM

Abstract:

Recently, there has been an increased emphasis on children’s social–emotional competence,especially in a classroom setting.  Teachers are recognized as socializers of children’s social–emotional competence, but research on their exact role is lacking.  On the other hand, an abundance of research has been conducted on parental socialization of social–emotional competence, and is often used in developing hypotheses for studies that examine teacher socialization. However, the home environment and classroom environment are much different; that is, the classroom is a unique environment where the socializer has to attend to the needs of many children at once, while also trying to provide pedagogical instruction.  The aim of the present study was to examine the relation between two measures of teacher socialization of social–emotional competence, which together aids in the understanding of how both nuanced and global and nuanced teacher-child interactions can facilitate children’s social–emotional competence.