The effects of child's play interaction on language and literacy and mathematical thinking -the mediating effects of social competence-

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of social competence in the structural relationship between child's play interactions and social competence, language and literacy, and mathematical thinking. For this purpose, data from the 7th year of the Korean Child Panel(2014) provided by the Korea Institute for Childcare Policy(KICE) were used, and a total of 667 young children and their classroom teachers were analyzed. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis, structural model analysis, and path analysis were conducted using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 22.0. The results of this study are as follows. First, children's play interactions had an effect on language and literacy, but not on mathematical thinking. Second, children's play interactions had a statistically positive effect on social competence. Third, children's social competence had a statistically positive effect on language, literacy, and mathematical thinking. Fourth, social competence was found to partially mediate the relationship between children's play interactions and language and literacy skills, and social competence was found to fully mediate the relationship between children's play interactions and mathematical thinking.