Development and Validation of the Social Competence Scale for Korean Preschool Children

Objectives This study aims to develop and validate a scale for measuring preschoolers' social competence, taking into account the specific social and cultural influences in Korea. Methods Implicit knowledge about preschoolers' social competence was examined among 17 kindergarten teachers in U City. A survey was administered to 255 preschoolers across five locations in U City, with 15 homeroom teachers developing the preliminary items for the Social Competence Scale for preschool children. Exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis (Cronbach’s α) were employed to examine the validity and reliability of the scale. Results The scale comprises four subfactors (sociability, emotionality, cooperativeness, problem-solving) with 20 items in total. The overall reliability of the Social Competence Scale(SCS-KPC) was high(α=.92), with subscale reliabilities as follows: sociability(α=.86), emotionality(α=.83), cooperativeness(α=.81), and problem-solving(α= .87). Significant correlations with Grasham and Elliot's (1990) social skills scale affirmed its validity. Conclusions These results indicate that the developed scale is reliable and valid for assessing preschoolers' social competence.