Sociale dominantie en sociale positie bij kleuters: De modererende rol van leeftijd

Abstract

The social position of children in school classes is important for the development of the child. A low social position increases the likeliness that children develop social-cognitive problems. Two aspects that play an important role in the development of social position are social dominance and age. Therefore, this study focused on investigating the correlation between social dominance and social position and the possible moderating effect of age on this correlation. A total of 297 preschoolers (M = 5.1, SD = 0.6) were rated by their teachers on social dominance. To measure social position, we used a computerized version of preschool sociometric ratings. Using a regression analysis, we found as hypothesized, a negative correlation between social dominance and social position (i.e. likability). Meaning that social dominant children using coercing strategies, generally receive lower social position scores. Furthermore, also as expected, we found a positive correlation between social position and age meaning that in general older children receive higher social position scores compared to younger children. To investigate the moderating effect of age on the correlation between social dominance and social position a regression analysis in which an interaction variable (age*dominance) was added was performed. We found no evidence of the moderating role of age on the correlation between social dominance and social position. We believe that one of the main reasons for not finding a moderating effect is the way social dominance was measured. For follow-up research, we recommend to use another measure for social dominance which accounts not only the coercive strategies, but also the prosocial strategies of social dominance.