Comparison of Psychosocial Development in 4 to 6 Year-old Male and Female Children Attending Kindergarten and those not Attending it in the Deprived Areas of Qom City during the Academic Year 2013-2014

The very beginning years of child’s life are critically important. All educators have emphasized the importance of the early childhood in the life-long development, because, on one side, learning and development are of higher speed during this period and, on the other side, the experiences of this period form the basis of learning in the next stages of life. Accordingly, this study aimed to compare the psychosocial development of 4 to 6-year-old children attending the kindergarten and those not attending it in the deprived areas of Qom city. 

In this casual-comparative research study, eighty 4 to 6-year-old children attending kindergarten and the same number of children not attending it were selected from the deprived areas of Qom city by clustering sampling method and matching. The tools included Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach& Edelbrock, 1983) and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Sparrow & Cicchetti, 1989). Data were analyzed by analysis of variance and independent samples t- test.

Findings showed that social development in children attending kindergarten was higher than those not attending it; and this difference was statistically significant at p<0.01. Besides, among the components of behavioral problems, isolation and social problems were more common in children not attending the kindergarten compare to the other group, at a significance level of p<0.05. Furthermore, the rate of aggressive behaviors in boys attending the kindergarten was higher than the boys not attending the kindergarten and the girls; and this difference was significant at p<0.05.

Because of receiving different trainings and gaining new skills, children attending the kindergarten show higher adjustment and social development and experience lower academic stress compared to those not attending the kindergarten.