An Examination of Growth Patterns in Social Competency in Daegu Students and Influencing Factors

This study examined the growth patterns in students' social competency and identified student and school factors influencing students’ social competency. The intention was provide objective evidence to drive direction of educational support and policy. Latent growth model analysis was conducted using data from second-year middle school students in Daegu, collected through Student Growth Longitudinal Study. An analysis of the growth of social competency based on responses from 1,173 participants across three waves of the study, revealed that social competencies followed a linearly increasing pattern. However, integrating individual and school factors and control variables into the growth model revealed the disappearance of social competency growth. Examining the simultaneous and lagged effects of individual and school factors on the growth pattern of social competencies showed the positive simultaneous effects of life satisfaction, peer relationships, and school satisfaction on social competencies, with positive lagged effects observed for peer relationships and school satisfaction at certain time points.