The Relationship Between Children's Territorial Behavior And Peer Relationship:the Moderating Effect Of Self-control

Territorial behavior refers to the behavior expression of an individual when he feels psychological possession of an object.At present,the researches on children's behavior mostly focus on the problem behaviors,such as attack,withdrawal and discipline violation,but the children's territorial behavior has not attracted researchers' positive attention,and the specific performance and development trend of children's territorial behavior are not clear.In addition,territorial behavior is closely related to interpersonal relationship.As an important interpersonal relationship in early childhood,peer relationship has an important impact on children's social development.However,the relationship and mechanism between territorial behavior and peer relationship are not clear.Therefore,it is necessary to explore the influence of potential variate.Among the many factors influencing peer relationship,many researchers have paid attention to the variable of self-control.In early childhood,self-control is the core and foundation of coordinating relationships with others and successfully adapting to society.On the one hand,the territory protected by territorial behavior is actually the reflection and extension of individual self-consciousness,and self-control is the embodiment of self-consciousness and an important component of volitional behavior.On the other hand,self-control affects peer relationship.Therefore,this study assumes that there is a certain relationship between children's territorial behavior and peer relationship,and self-control plays a moderating role in the relationship between territorial behavior and peer relationship.At present,there is no special tool to study children's territorial behavior.Therefore,on the basis of literature review and field observation and interview,this study builds the theoretical dimension of children's territorial behavior by consulting preschool teachers and experts on the basis of self-construction theory.Through testing and revision,the formal Children's Territorial Behavior Scale was formed to explore the characteristics of children's territorial behavior and the moderating effect of self-control on the relationship between territorial behavior and peer relationship.The research conclusions are as follows:First,through preliminary observation,it is found that children's territorial behavior includes three forms: marking behavior,defensive behavior and extending behavior.Territorial behavior occurs most frequently in game activities and least frequently in teaching activities.Different types of territorial behavior have different consequences.The ways that teachers deal with children's territorial behavior are mainly divided into teacher-led and child-directed.Second,Children's Territorial Behavior Scale is made,which includes three dimensions: marking behavior,defensive behavior and extending behavior.There are 14 items in total,using 2-point scoring method.The scale has good reliability and validity,according with the requirement of the educational and psychological measurement,and is suitable as a survey tool for studying the children's territorial behavior.Third,children's territorial behavior is generally in the lower middle level.In the three dimensions,the score of extending behavior is the highest,the score of defensive behavior is the next highest,and the score of marking behavior is the lowest.Fourth,there are significant differences in the overall and various dimensions of territorial behavior for the small,middle and large class children.Children in public kindergartens showed significantly more marking and defensive behaviors than those in private kindergartens.The rural children have significantly more defensive behavior than the urban children.Fifth,children's territorial behavior is negatively correlated with social preference in peer relationship and positively correlated with social influence in peer relationship.Sixth,children's self-control plays a moderating role between territorial behavior and peer relationship(social preference,social influence).Low self-control significantly enhances the negative influence of defensive behavior and extending behavior on social preference,while high self-control weakens the negative influence of defensive behavior and extending behavior on social preference;Low self-control children enhance their social influence in peer relationship because they do not control the negative influence of marking behavior,while high self-control children reduce their social influence in peer relationship by inhibiting the negative influence of marking behavior.