• social competence
• attachment security
• middle childhood

Spangler, Brooke, R. M.A., Autumn 2006 Psychology

Social Competence, Social Support, and Attachment During Middle Childhood

Chairperson: Paul S. Silverman, Ph.D.

The attachment style of children throughout their early years has been found to relate to social competence and social support (Marcus & Kramer, 2001). This investigation attempts to determine whether the relationship is evident during middle childhood. Thirty 8-13-year-old children and their mothers participated. A correlational design was used. Attachment style was assessed with the Parent/Child Reunion Inventory (Marcus, 2001), social competence was assessed with the Social Competence Inventory (Rydell, Hagekull, & Bohlin, 1997), and social support was measured with the Social Support Appraisals Scale (Dubow & Ullman, 1989). A measure of social desirability, the Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Short Form (Reynolds, 1982), was used to assess the participants’ likelihood of responding favorably. Correlations were conducted to determine if there was a significant relationship between attachment security, social competence and social support, but results were nonsignificant. Results show that attachment security was not an adequate predictor of either social support or social competence. A significant correlation was found regarding high scores on the Parent/Child Reunion Inventory and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Short Form, suggesting that mothers may have responded in an unrealistically favorable way to questions concerning their relationship with their child.