The Impact Of Child Temperament On Adjustment To Preschool

Adjustment to Preschool is defined as: newly enrolled children aged 3-4 take the initiative to make mental and behavioral adjustments,so as to coordinate themselves with the new life and environments in the kindergarten and realize the transition from home to preschool.In the educational process during the whole lifetime,adjustment to preschool,as a necessary social adaptation ability during the transition period,is rather important for the growth and development of individuals,especially in the context of the popularizing of three-year preschool education in China.So far,the influencing mechanism of adjustment to preschool has been poorly discussed.There is no lack of speculative interpretation based on practical experience and field observation of caregivers and preschool teachers,demonstrating the main aspects of adjustment to preschool and strategies to prevent or alleviate children’s discomfort after entering kindergartens.However,few empirical researches have been done to clarify the underlying influencing mechanism of preschool adjustment.Previous studies have suggested that child temperament and the coparenting relationship of co-caregivers play an important role in the process of adjustment to preschool.Therefore,the present study explores the influence of child temperament and co-caregivers’ coparenting relationship on adjustment to preschool from the perspective of both individual and family level.Based on the revised Chinese version of CRS(Feinberg,2012),namely the Coparenting Relationship Scale for Families with Children Aged 2-4,the present study adopts questionnaire survey to analyze the basic information and the impact of demographic variables of child temperament,co-caregivers’ coparenting relationship and children’s adjustment to preschool as well as the close associations among them,taking 250 families with K1 children and 10 kindergarten teachers from 10 K1 classes in 3 first-class public kindergartens as research samples.In the meantime,collective interviews with 6 caregivers and 10 teachers respectively were conducted as a supplementary method.The results indicate that:1.The validity and reliability of the revised Coparenting Relationship Scale for Children Aged 2-4 are satisfactory.Exploratory factor analysis reveals four distinct factors of coparenting relationship: coparenting conflict,coparenting support,endorse partner parenting,and coparenting agreement.2.The score of adjustment to preschool is above the average level.The descending sequence of average scores of the five aspects is: abiding by rules> learning activity=emotional regulation> interpersonal relationship> self-care ability.The demographic factors affecting adjustment to preschool are the experience of childcare services,gender combination,generation combination,educational background combination of co-caregivers,and family structure.3.The imbalance exists in the nine dimensions of temperament of children aged 3-4.The demographic factors affecting child temperament are the gender of children,experience of childcare services,gender combination,generation combination,educational background combination of co-caregivers,and family structure.Adaptability,attention span and persistence,and activity level can significantly positively predict the adjustment to preschool;on the contrary,intensity of reaction and distractibility can significantly negatively predict the adjustment to preschool.Some dimensions of child temperament can predict each aspect of adjustment to preschool to different degrees.4.The score of coparenting relationship is above the average level.The descending sequence of average scores of the positive dimensions is: coparenting support>coparenting agreement> endorse partner parenting.The demographic factors affecting child temperament are the gender of children,one-child or not,gender combination,generation combination,educational background combination of co-caregivers,and family structure.Overall coparenting relationship,endorse partner parenting,and coparenting support can significantly positively predict the adjustment to preschool.Some dimensions of coparenting relationship can predict each aspect of adjustment to preschool to different degrees.5.Approach or withdrawal,activity level,and adaptability can significantly positively predict the coparenting relationship;on the contrary,intensity of reaction can significantly negatively predict the coparenting relationship.Some dimensions of child temperament can predict each dimension of coparenting relationship to different degrees.6.Coparenting relationship fully mediates the effect of adaptability,intensity of reaction,and approach or withdrawal on adjustment to preschool.In accordance with the conclusions above,the study puts forward the following educational and cultivating proposals from multiple perspectives in order to help children better adjust from home to the fresh collective life of preschool: the preschool adaptation training should be reasonably carried out with deeper understanding of the core aspects of the adjustment to preschool process,timely adjustment of caring and educating behavior and rational dealing with the unavoidable vicissitudes;caregivers should improve the fitting degree of child temperament and parenting style and establish healthy coparenting relationship;K1 teachers should guide and help children properly according to the assessment of child temperament and specific situations;kindergartens should develop a solid relationship between caregivers,teachers and kindergartens in order to promote the ability of adjustment to preschool;the government and the society at large should provide external support for families during the adaptation stage.