Social-Emotional Development

Introduction

Parents play a significant role in how their children conduct daily activities and interactions. Therefore, the parental influence affects the general well-being and development of the young ones. Thus, having appropriate emotional and social skills is critical to interpersonal relationships, mental health; moreover, it forms the foundation for building relations. Developing positive self-esteem and interactions with others during the pre-school years is essential to a person's future character (Perepletchikova & Kazdin, 2009). The social-emotional evolution of a kid has an impact on the child's life attributes, and parenting contributes to attaining emotional and social skills, which are developmentally appropriate.

The styles of parenting are characterized by various methods of communication, responsiveness levels as well as expanse of control. Hence, the three most common types of parenting styles include authoritative one whereby parents raise their kids with reliance on clear guidelines and provide them with love at the same time (Gail, 2011). Authoritarian parenting make parents give strict instructions, emphasize obedience and do not tolerate words exchange with the young ones. Lastly, according to permissive parenting, the parents set no limits or expectations and view the children as their friends (Gail, 20011). All these types of parenting affect the development of a child differently. Hence, considering the parenting style is crucial in understanding the impact of parenting behaviors on a child’s outcome.

Problem Statement

Social-emotional development is essential in the growth of a teenager. However, people usually overlook it and place emphasis on academic preparedness instead of parenting (Feldman & Eildman, 2008). Thus, most parents are not aware of the influence of their upbringing on the future of kids. Hence, the aim of this paper is to analyze the relation between the social and emotional development of preschool kids and the methods of child-rearing styles. Researching this issue can help in enhancing a healthier understanding of the effect of parenting methods on child's social skills, interactions, psychological health as well as behavior management.

Literature Review

Social-emotional and cognitive trajectories represent the main fundamental aspects of a child's development (Gail, 2011). Besides, there are usually several series of reorganization of kid’s cognitive development within the first five years of life. Cognitive growth in the early childhood often involves simple attention, perceptual-motor integration, and visual learning. During the second year, a child experiences maturing of the attention system and starts using symbols. Furthermore, their cognitive skills improve and incorporate initial perceptions, planning, showing goals-directed behaviors. “Their cognitive development during the preschool years when they are undergoing rapid changes in language as well as maturation of their prefrontal cortex includes the mastery of executive functions as well as the ability to use compound semantic categories” (Gail, 2011).

Parenting Styles

According to Denham (2007), the authoritarian parents usually raise their kids in compliance with strict rules; they value obedience and do not tolerate verbal exchange with their children. On the other hand, the authoritative parents usually set rules for their children but give them rationales as well as solicit input; additionally, they are warm and engaging with their children. The permissive parents rear the adolescents with no limits imposed on them, they are sensible and benign but such parents rarely discipline kids and most of the time they give the latter their full support.

Child-rearing methods make a connection with cognitive as well as social competencies among juveniles (Denham, 2007). Therefore, there is consistency in the results from this research and other studies on the same concept hence leading to a conclusion concerning optimal upbringing styles. The children with authoritative parents display good performance in class; they are achievement-oriented, self-reliant, cooperative, independent and friendly. Furthermore, these youngsters are less anxious, dependent, depressed and have low levels of externalizing as well as internalizing behavior issues. Additionally, the link between positive social and cognitive development of children and authoritative parenting seems to occur across ethnic and social groups. Consequently, the literature is a clear indication of the positive impact of authoritative parenting in contrast to other alternatives.

Self-Esteem, Parenting, and Emotions

A child's self-esteem is related to their social and emotional development (Feldman & Eidelman, 2008). Thus, a juvenile's self-esteem is a result of parenting styles used in their upbringing. Parents can create the environment where the child experiences encouragement, acceptance, love, and responsibility, which shape and nourish the kid's self-esteem. High esteem is not taught but it is rather built gradually in daily interactions that get compiled into the child's image of the self. Since the relationships between parents and children are significant, it is essential to consider how parenting may influence the pre-school kid’s self-esteem.

Furthur studies show that the styles of parenting can predict a child's wellbeing in the area of academic performance, social competencies, problem behaviors and psychological development (Feldman & Eidelman, 2008). The research based on child reports, parents’ observations and interviews consistently reveals that adolescents with authoritative parents rate themselves objectively as influential and socially proficient as opposed to other juniors.

Methods

The research used the qualitative approach due to the nature of the data to be collected. The resolution of the survey is to analyze the magnitude to which the method of parenting can affect the social-emotional development of a pre-school kid. The study had a total of 14 participants from the Family Resource Center; these were parents with pre-school children. Three of the participants were fathers while the rest of them were mothers. The age bracket of the experiment members was between 20 and 40; moreover, the individuals belonged to different ethnic and economic backgrounds.

Instrumentation

For the data collection, questionnaires were utilized. The first questionnaire assessed the type of parenting style adopted by the parents. The latter had to fill the survey form by inserting a checking mark next to their answers then the researcher would score the reports to decide the parenting method that was suggestive of each parent. The second question was meant to test the delays in social and emotional development. The questionnaire known as “Age and stage questionnaire: Social, emotional development” is the work of Brooks Publishing (Denham, 2007). Here the parents had to choose the answer they felt best described their child on that specific day of the survey. The answers were sometimes, rarely, never, most of the time. The observer then compiled the scores from this study. The highest score was zero while the lowest was ten. The researcher then totaled the scores to determine the children who were below or above the suitable emotional and social development cut-off point. Therefore, these tools were the most appropriate for the investigation due to their reliability and validity.

Analysis

The analysis of the data explored relationships and correlations. To be specific, there was a comparison of the data from the parenting styles to the scores of the social-emotional development. Furthermore, a correlating number and letter for each of the surveys were introduced. The presentation of the information was done in a tabular format. An additional table was used for easy identification of the connection between the variables, which were the social-emotional development and the parenting styles. Grouping of the styles of parenting and the age as well as nonage appropriate scores of the social-emotional development gave the researcher the ability to maintain if the link subsists.

Limitations

The method of data collection had some limitations. Firstly, the size of the tester was insignificant hence restricting a greater analysis of the relationships amongst the variables. Moreover, the survey needed the parents to provide accurate information regarding beliefs and behaviors peculiar to them and their kids. The limitation includes the biased opinion of many parents about their parenting practices as well as their child's development.

Results

The first two survey questions focused on the development scores by the juniors who attended the Family Resource Center and the issue how the parents rate their methods of childrearing basing on the tool of evaluation, which was meant to assess the parenting methods.

Table 1: Parenting Style and Social Emotional Scores

According to the results, 10 of the 14 parents used the authoritative style of parenting while three of them adopted the authoritarian style, and only one parent resorted to permissive parenting. Additionally, the study revealed that the results of the two children who participated in the survey recorded high social scores while two other kids were underneath the pass mark of 75 thus classifying the juveniles as the ones with noteworthy delays in growth. Only two other children scored 60, which disqualifies them from having developmental delays although the score is close to the 75 mark.

The next question of the study concentrated on the connection between the two variables. To be specific, the questionnaire asked whether there is a link between the social-emotional development of preschooler kids and the parenting style used by their parents.

Table 2: The Link

The outcomes from the assessment of the connection amongst the scores of social-emotional development and child-rearing methods recorded that none of the children with authoritative parents experienced significant delays in their emotional and social development. Additionally, no one with permissive parents showed noteworthy interruptions in their growth. However, two kids in the study exhibited substantial postponements in their development; both of them had parents who adopted the authoritarian style of parenting. Moreover, one of the children with a strict mother scored 60 marks, which are close to the cut-off point of 70.

Discussion

Social-emotional development is critical at the early stages of a child’s life. The young ones who were the members of the family program were in line with other kids of their age regarding their development. Therefore, there is a relationship among social skills of a juvenile, the emotional development and the social interactions between youngsters of the same age. According to Gail (2011), peer interactions help to enhance the development since the child feels challenged seeing other kids accomplish more and as a result, the junior strives to be better than other children. Hence, these aspirations advance to the move from one developmental stage to the next one at a much faster pace compared to the cases children who lack such interactions with their age mates.

On the other hand, the style of parenting equally contributes to the development of the young ones. The previous study shows that permissive parents give their children freedom and have no responsibilities or limits imposed on the juniors (Halberstardt et al., 2009). Therefore, as the kid matures, the parents feel as if they no longer have the power to change the behavior of their offspring. Furthermore, such children become adults without a sense of responsibility and have hard times building relationships that makes their life a bit harder. Some researchers suggest that in the long run, the parents who are keen on the emotional control usually deprive the adolescents of the chance to learn the consequences and causes of inappropriate display of emotions (Halberstardt, Denham, & Dunsmore, 2009). The results of these surveys are similar to this current research, which has proved that children of the parents with high demand and low responsiveness display poor social-emotional development compared to the kids with permissive or authoritative parents.

Conclusion

The resolution of the study was to analyze the correlation between different styles of parenting and the social-emotional growth of children The achieved outcome produced evidence that there is a link between child's positive feelings of the self are directly connected to the way in which the kid relates with the parents. Verious processes, in particular the nature of relationships between youngsters and parents, can influence the development of some competencies during pre-school years leading to the elaboration of the right social-emotional qualities. Therefore, this is essential to the life of adolescents since it builds the foundation of a person's concept of the self for the following year. Hence, it is clear that parenting significantly affects the development of children's social-emotional skills.

Order Research Paper Online from professionals and be sure that the writers have enough competence and expertise to be able to help you with your task.