SOCIAL COMPETENCE IN ADOLESCENTS FROM FOSTER FAMILIES AND FROM TWO-PARENT, BIOLOGICAL FAMILIES

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SOCIAL COMPETENCE IN ADOLESCENTS FROM FOSTER FAMILIES AND FROM TWO-PARENT, BIOLOGICAL FAMILIES

Journal Title: Educational Psychology - Year 2013, Vol 46, Issue 4

Abstract

Abstract: The study aimed to analyze the level of social competence in adolescents brought up in foster families and in two-parent, biological families. Adolescents from relative foster families (n = 35), adolescents from non-relative foster families (n = 22) and adolescents from two-parent, biological families (n = 35), who were a comparative group, took part in the study. Guardians’ parental attitudes as perceived by the adolescents, the adolescents' emotional intelligence and their aggressiveness were adopted as explanatory variables. The following tools were used in the study: the Social Competence Questionnaire (KKS), the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (INTE), the Parental Attitudes Scale by M. Plopa, and the Polish version of the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory called “Nastroje i Humory” [Moods and Whims]. The authors’ statistical analyses show that only the girls from relative foster families have a lower level of social competence needed in social situations as compared to the girls from two-parent, biological families. Apart from this relationship, no other connections between the family type and adolescents’ social competence were found. Analysis of relationships between the remaining variables included in this study showed that in general, the girls had a higher level of social competence needed in intimate situations than the boys. It was also found that a higher level of the adolescents’ social competence was related to a higher level of emotional intelligence while a lower level of social competence occurred together with the mothers’ overprotective attitude and the adolescents’ verbal aggressiveness.

Authors and Affiliations

Agnieszka Miłkowska, Teresa Rostowska

Keywords

EP ID EP53282
DOI -
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