Kindergarten friendships help boys develop social skills

Updated on: Thursday, December 01, 2011

It seems kindergarten benefits boys the most than girls, as a new research has found that high-quality bonding among boys in the institution helps them develop better social skills than their female peers.

Researchers at the University of Illinois in the US found that boys who share high-quality friendship in kindergarten will have fewer behaviour problems and better social skills in first and third grades.

The findings, published in a recent issue of Infant and Child Development, were different for girls, said Jennifer Engle, the lead author of the study.

"Overall, teachers reported that girls in the first and third grade had good social skills, regardless of the quality of their kindergarten friendships. Boys, on the other hand, clearly benefited from the good start that early high-quality friendships provide," she said.

The study, Engle said, was unique in comparing how the presence and quality of children's kindergarten friendships are related to their behaviour problems and social skills in kindergarten, first, and third grades.

She noted that friendship quality was important for both boys and girls in kindergarten as kids with high-quality friendships tended to have fewer behaviour problems than those whose friendships were of low or moderate quality.

The differences in friendship quality for boys versus girls didn't show up till the children were older, Engle said.

"Boys who had no friends in kindergarten had more behaviour problems, but not until they had reached first and third grades," she said.

For their study, the researchers examined data from 567 children who participated in a child health study. Feedbacks on the kids friendship and behaviour problems were taken from mothers and teachers.

"As we expected, high-quality friendships that featured cooperation and sharing, gave children, especially boys, practice in positive interaction, which they demonstrated in grades one and three," Engle said.

Kindergarten friendships help boys develop social skills

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