Sociale Relaties van Kleuters met Leeftijdsgenoten en Leerkracht als Voorspeller van het Inhiberend Vermogen

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the link between social relationships of pre-schoolers with their peers and with their teacher in combination with their inhibitory control. This study aimed to research as well if these social relationships are predictors for their inhibitory control. The participants were children from kindergarten, N = 184. Inhibitory control, an executive function, was measured by the ‘GekkeDierenTaak’, a Stroop-task based software program. The social relationships between peers and the teacher-student relationship were assessed using questionnaires filled in by their teachers about the social competence of the specific participant. Results have shown that higher social competence with peers was related to significant higher scores in inhibitory control. Higher teacher-student relationship scores were related to higher scores in inhibitory control as well. However, both of the relationships together predict only a small, non-significant part of the inhibitory control scores. Altogether these findings show that there seem to be clues for links between early social relationships at elementary school and inhibitory control, but these social relationships are hardly a predictor for inhibitory control. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.