NETWORK DYNAMICS:THE ARISE OF SOCIAL ROLES IN PRESCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN

Social competence is defined as the ability to establish a wide and differential social network. Children, able in forming positive relations with their peers, have good social skills. Social competence seems to be related to cognitive abilities. Cognitive changes occurring in different age involve changes in the development of relational skills with peers. Our study concerns the analysis of peer networks in pre-schoolers 3-5 years old. At this age, the pupil is introduced in the school community and he is in contact with peers outside of his family. In this period child does not play alone anymore but he starts interactive games, in which there are more complex dynamics. The kindergarten is, therefore, the place where the interaction with peers improves pre-schoolers’ relational skills. In the study we propose a longitudinal analysis referred to a set of data collected at seven successive points in time. Each point is a representation of links among pupils in a kindergarten along a week. So, data are collected during the 4 weeks of October (when the school starts) and 3 December weeks. December is chosen because in this period pupils prepare a school play and we suppose that network structure changes according to this event. We analyse the different values of traditional network measures both weekly and monthly. We expect an arising of cliques at the structural level, as well as an increasing of bridge and brokerage roles at individual level. The values change week by week. As regard of each month, we suppose that the network configuration alters according to different relation processes. Finally, we relate the outcomes of network analysis and some attributes of pupils and their parents. Changes