The ability to interact with others, regulate one’s own emotions and behaviour, solve problems, and communicate effectively. Some of those competencies that contribute to the child’s social and academic adjustment to school include self-regulation of emotion and behaviour, communication and conflict resolution skills, persistence, self-esteem, and self-efficacy.
Published in Chapter:
Transition to Elementary School in Croatia: Examining the Determinants of Children's Early School Adjustment
Ivana Hanzec Marković (Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, Croatia) and Gordana Kuterovac Jagodić (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia)
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 23
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-4435-8.ch008
Abstract
This chapter presents the results of an empirical study conducted in Croatia examining individual child characteristics (specific cognitive skills and social-emotional competence) and contextual factors (parental involvement in transition and the schools' readiness) as possible determinants of a successful transition to elementary school (i.e., children's early social and academic school adjustment). The results of the study with 417 first-grade students showed that specific cognitive skills were the best predictor of academic adjustment, and also a significant predictor of some social adjustment indicators, while social-emotional competence predicted the student-teacher relationship. Contextual factors showed no significance as predictors or moderators in the model. Patterns of relationships were equal for girls and boys. The chapter offers possible explanations for the study results, along with suggestions for future research and potential practical implications of the obtained results.