This research aimed to determine whether the Making Friends (MF) program is effective on social acceptance levels of typically developing children in preschool toward their peers with special needs. The research had an experimental design with a control group, pretest, posttest, and follow-up test. The study included 130 typically developing…

Peer rejections impair children's well-being in ECEC, impede their social and emotional development, and increase the risk of multiple forms of peer adversities. This study explores children's need for empathy when experiencing rejections from peers in free play situations in ECEC. The data were collected through video-recorded dialogical…

Reviews concerning the enhancement of preschool children's social competencies reveal areas within which teacher approach, definitions of social competence and methods of study can be enhanced. In response, teachers and researchers co-developed and introduced a peer-based relational intervention to support children's communication, empathic…

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for higher education institutions to take a holistic approach to early childhood teacher preparation, which includes fostering students' social connections at the university. Using an online survey, this study examined perceptions of whether and how the pandemic disrupted sense of belonging (SoB) and…

In this study, the situation of Syrian refugee children, their acceptance by their peers, and their socialisation with one another were examined. The research was conducted using a case study design and a qualitative research method. Twenty-nine Turkish pupils were selected using a purposive sampling method. The school with the highest number of…

The development of sustainable early childhood education advocates for the holistic development of all children, including children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As an important indicator of children's social development, peer relationships between children with and without ASD in inclusive kindergarten have not gained much attention.…

There are limited studies involving preschool children and phenomena such as harassment, bullying, exclusion and rejection. This study explores the relations between 4- to 6-year-old children's experiences of being frequently harassed in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions, their overall feeling of subjective…

The scope of this study was to discriminate factors, which could improve students' social relationships in kindergarten classrooms. In this research, 147 volunteer children participated, 67 female students and 80 male students. Every student was between 4.5 and 5.5 years old and they were all attending urban public kindergarten located in central…

Two studies examine the convergence between measures of friendship and measures of liking in the assessment of friendship and peer acceptance. In the first study, 551 (301 boys and 250 girls) Canadian primary school children (ages 8-11) nominated friends and liked-most classmates. In the second study, 282 (127 boys and 155 girls) US primary school…

One argument for the inclusion of children with special education needs (SEN) is that they will benefit from the interactions and relationships with their typically developing peers. However, students with SEN tend to be more rejected than their non-SEN peers. Considering the negative consequences of peer rejection on socioemotional development…

The aim of the study is to examine the predictive effect of teacher-child relationship on children's self-perception. Sample group of the study consisted of 104 children in the age group of 5 years attending preschool education in Samsun (Turkey). Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) and The Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social…

Policies for early childhood inclusion in South Korea have been enacted and implemented over 3 decades. However, early childhood educators' experiences and perceptions toward inclusion in early childhood education settings have been understudied. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 11 early childhood educators with inclusive teaching…

Classroom teachers are often the primary implementers of universal social-emotional learning (SEL) in U.S. elementary schools with first-hand insight on translating programs into authentic settings and local contexts. This study examined social validity and cultural relevance ratings, indicators of implementation, and feedback from 57 first- and…

This study investigated the longitudinal trajectories of peer rejection and their predictive effects on Internet gaming addiction among Chinese children. The sample comprised 818 students from Grades 1 to 3 (M = 8.30, SD = 1.11, 51.3% boys). Peer rejection was assessed using peer nominations in five waves over a period of 2.5 years, and Internet…

This study focuses on a close examination of how children express themselves at ECEC in play situations, which form an integral and large part of a typical day. The main research question has been: How can children's social and emotional expressions be understood through analyses of communication and interaction during free play? A qualitative…