Exploring the associations among Chinese kindergartners between social-emotional development and behavioral and academic adjustment

Social-emotional development forms the foundation for children’s positive functioning in school and is essential for shaping their lifelong outcomes. Although it has both developmental and sociocultural specificity in manifestations, existing research has predominantly focused on school-aged children from Western societies. Using a stratified sampling approach, this study examined the characteristics of children’s social-emotional development and its associations with behavioral and academic adjustment. Data were collected among 576 Chinese kindergartners (M_age = 49.39 months; 50% girls) between October and November 2020. Results showed that girls and older children outperformed boys and younger children on a series of social-emotional development tasks. Moreover, children’s social-emotional development was positively associated with numeracy and literacy skills but not with teacher-reported externalizing or internalizing problem behaviors. These findings provide novel insights into the patterns of social-emotional development among Chinese kindergartners and the mechanisms linking social-emotional development to behavioral and academic adjustment. Implications for future research, policy, and practices are discussed.