만 3세 유아의 형제관계 구성변인 및 형제관계의 질과 또래 유능성과의 관계

Abstract

Given the fact that peer competence which is formed in early childhood affects character building, social relationships and behavioral development from then on, it's more important than anything else to have an amiable relationship with peers and experience it in this period. Young children's experience with sibling relationship lays the foundation for them to acquire socioemotional skills and communicative competency in advance, and supplementary role performance among siblings serves as a catalyst for their cognitive development. Educational institutions also state that peer relationships are developed through positive social adjustment. The purpose of this study was to examine any possible differences in peer competency among preschoolers according to the components of sibling relationship and the influence of the quality of sibling relationship on peer competency in an effort to raise awareness of young children's peer competency, to have a better understanding of it, and ultimately to make a contribution to the development of various support and educational programs geared toward improving peer competency. Two research questions were posed: 1. Are there any differences in peer competency according to the components of sibling relationship? 2. What influence does the quality of sibling relationship exercise on peer competency? The subjects in this study were 306 preschoolers who were selected from the single-age classes in 13 private kindergartens located in the city of Busan. They were at the western age of three and respectively had a sibling. The instrument used to analyze the characteristics of the quality of sibling relationship was Park & Ahn (2005)'s 16-item revised version of Furman & Buhrmester(1985)'s Sibling Relationship Questionnaire(SRQ). The SRQ was revised in consideration of the developmental characteristics of young children who aren't yet familiar with written language. The instrument used to assess the peer competency of the preschoolers was Park & Lee(2001)'s Peer Competency Scale. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 23.0, and independent-samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe's post-hoc analysis, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and hierarchical regression analysis were used. The findings of the study were as follows: First, there were statistically significant differences among the preschoolers in peer competency according to their sex and sibling sex composition. As for their own sex, the preschool girls scored higher than the preschool boys in initiative, prosociability and socializing, which are the subvariables of peer competency, and the former's total scores in peer competency were higher than those of the latter. And there were significant differences according to sibling sex composition in prosociability and socializing that are the subvariables of peer competency, and in total scores as well. Specifically, the young children who had an older sister each were ahead of their counterparts who had an older brother each in terms of socializing, one of the subvariables of peer competency. Second, the quality of sibling relationship had a positive correlation with peer competency. Also, the quality of sibling relationship exerted a significant influence on peer competency, and it could be predicted that the better quality of sibling relationship leads to better peer competency. Among the subvariables, compassion/intimacy had a positive impact on peer competency. That is, it could be predicted that better compassion/intimacy is followed by better peer competency. In conclusion, it shouldn't be overlooked that the sex of the preschoolers and sibling sex composition, which are two components of sibling relationship, are linked to peer competency. The quality of sibling relationship had a close relationship with peer competency, and peer competency was better when there was a more compassionate and closer sibling relationship. Therefore, parent education and the development of counseling programs are both required to assist young children in keeping on interacting with their siblings at home in a more compassionate and intimate way, and a variety of additional support should be provided.