Social-Emotional Development: An Exploration of Definitions in the Literature and Aboriginal Perspectives

• Author / Creator

  Daniels, Melissa K.

• The current thesis consists of two papers. The first paper, presented in Chapter 2, examined recent research literature to identify how researchers define social-emotional development and to consider where further clarity is needed in defining this term. Using content analysis to examine researchers’ definitions, four categories emerged, consisting of self-regulation; emotion knowledge; social and relationship skills; and self-concept. Researchers were generally consistent in their definitions; however, it was discovered that remarkably few researchers explicitly define social-emotional competence, instead relying on tools to operationalize this construct. The second paper, presented in Chapter 3, is a qualitative study that explored social-emotional competence from Aboriginal perspectives. Five themes emerged from the data. A strong identity was central to the other themes of cultural, social, emotional, and mental wellness. As a concluding discussion piece, Chapter 4 integrates the learnings from both papers, discusses implications for practice, and identifies directions for future research.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Social-emotional development
  • Aboriginal child development
  • Early childhood development

• Graduation date

  Spring 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3JQ4K

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.