Bidirectionality of Kindergarten Children’s Social Mastery Motivation and Social-emotional Competence

Fung, Wing Kai and Chung, Kevin Kien Hoa (2026) Bidirectionality of Kindergarten Children’s Social Mastery Motivation and Social-emotional Competence. Infant and Child Development. ISSN 1522-7227

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Abstract

This study investigated the bidirectional relationship between social mastery motivation and social-emotional competence in a sample of Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children. Participants were parents (15 fathers and 124 mothers) and teachers (22 in total) of 139 children (52.5% boys, mean age = 4.41) from a local kindergarten situated in a middle-socioeconomic area. At Time 1, parents provided demographic information, and teachers rated children’s social mastery motivation and social-emotional competence through questionnaires. Six months later, at Time 2, teachers performed the rating again. A cross‑lagged path model demonstrated evidence for co‑development between the two constructs. Children’s social mastery motivation at Time 1 positively predicted their social-emotional competence at Time 2 (β = .39, SE = .04, p < .001), and that social-emotional competence at Time 1 significantly predicted social mastery motivation at Time 2 (β = .24, SE = .15, p < .01). The findings highlight that children who are more motivated to initiate and persist in social interactions tend to develop stronger social–emotional skills over time, and vice versa. The results also underscore the utility of the play-based approach by offering kindergarten children in additional group play opportunities, such as sociodramatic play, to nurture these motivational desires and skills.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	© 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,provided the original work is properly cite
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Education
SWORD Depositor:	RISE Symplectic
Depositing User:	RISE Symplectic
Date Deposited:	07 Aug 2026 14:49
Last Modified:	07 Aug 2026 14:50
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4960

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