Correlation Between Family Size and Pragmatic Skills of Preschool Children

Research has shown that social competence plays a substantial role in the social, psychological, and educational domains. It was hypothesized that children from larger families would have superior pragmatic skills when compared to children from smaller families. 80 Orthodox Jewish preschool children, who ranged in age from 3-5 years, were randomly selected to participate. Thirty-two were from families with five or more children, and forty eight were from families with three or less children. A thirty-five item questionnaire documenting the interactions and social skills of the children was sent to the parents. The responses were used to calculate the Average Pragmatic Ability Index (APAI). A regression analysis procedure was used to determine whether a correlation existed between family size and APAI. The strengths and weaknesses of the study are discussed.

ABSTRACT:

Social competence, the degree to which children and youth establish and maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers, plays a substantial role in social, psychological, and educational domains (Gresham, 1998). Hartup (1992) notes that peer relationships in particular contribute a great deal to social and cognitive development and to the effectiveness with which we function as adults. He states that ''the single best childhood predictor of adult adaptation is not school grades, and not classroom behavior, but rather the adequacy with which the child gets along with other children''. Unless children achieve minimal social competence by about the age of six years, they have a high probability of being at risk into adulthood (Ladd, 2000; Parker & Asher, 1987). Thus, a child's long-term social and emotional adaptation, and academic and cognitive development are enhanced by frequent opportunities to strengthen social competence during childhood (McClellan & Katz, 2001).

Social development begins at birth and progresses rapidly throughout the preschool years (McClellan & Katz, 2001). During this time period, a child develops social competence through social interactions. Social interactions are the every-day give and take situations. A social interaction may include saying "Hello" or asking an appropriate question such as "May I play with you?" Social interactions also include activities that help children make friends (Willis, 2001). Young children who exhibit social communication delays frequently have difficulty engaging with peers in sustained interactions and may be ineffective in maintaining play-related conversation with peers. The inability to communicate needs and wants during peer interactions can result in negative social consequences, including peer rejection. To engage in social interactions competently, young children must be able to initiate and respond to social stimuli, sustain social contact, and negotiate conflicts (Craig-Unkefer & Kaiser, 2002).

Pragmatic abilities are vital social skills that enable children to interact with each other in a positive manner (Willis, 2001). One main aspect of pragmatic abilities is turn-taking. Turn-taking, the basic form of organization for conversation, is a series of temporal interchanges in which conversational partners alternate roles as speaker and listener. It typically includes variables such as interrupting and response time latency (Kelly, 1994). Turn-taking forms the basis of how information is exchanged. It is the structural tool of conversation, socialization and learning (Roeder, 2000). In conversation, reciprocity, the idea that one will receive the equivalent of what one gives, operates as a social control mechanism and is the essence of turn-taking (Willis, 2001). To successfully conduct a conversation, participants must display a willingness and ability to collaborate. Successful conversation yields, for each participant, a degree of interactional satisfaction. To maintain a turn-taking interaction, one must have appropriate eye contact, good listening skills, and the ability to know if the information he is trying to convey to the listener is really perceived and understood. Appropriate pragmatic skills are comprised of all these behaviors (Allwood, 1999).

Pragmatic language develops from early infancy. Between six and nine months, babies begin to engage in back and forth interactions. When the child begins to babble, the parent unwittingly teaches the child the rules of conversation. The child says "da-da," and the parent responds in whole sentences, making up complete stories as the child answers in more of his playful, babbling speech. The baby soon recognizes that when the parent stops making sounds, it is his/her turn to produce sound. By continuing this pattern of interaction, the parent is encouraging the development of pragmatic skills (Roeder, 2000). As the child grows, he/she learns to imitate. During this time period, the parent reinforces pragmatic skills during play. As the child gets older, parent and child often participate in activities that require the use of pragmatic skills, such as playing house (National Center for Infants Toddlers & Families, 2001).