Development And Influential Factors Of Foster Children's Social Skills

Through the combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, the developmental traits and influential factors of foster children's social skills have been discussed in this research; Meanwhile, through comparative study between foster children, normal children and children in orphanage, we have also reached a better understanding of foster children's social skills; In order to effectively evaluate the influences of fosterage to children's social skills, this research has also included a study of some potential influential factors, for example: the age of the child when s/he was first fostered by the family, the time length of the fosterage, the characteristic of the foster family, the nurturance method of the parents, and the self- concept of the foster child etc. The main results of this research are as following:(1) Foster children tend to choose more positive goals in their social interactions, but their choices also depend highly on the characteristic of the interaction partner.(2) When evaluating the outside environment of the interaction, foster children seem to be more self-oriented.(3) Foster chidlren's social strategies are more negative and less colorful than normal children.(4) Foster children's expectation of the interaction results becomes more and more realistic.(5) Fosterage has improved children's social skills in a certain way, but the improvement is not remarkable when compare to normal children.(6) The age of the foster child when s/he was fostered at the first place, the time length of the fosterage, the emotional support and understanding from their father, and the preference from their mother has showed clear influences on children's social skills(7) Foster children's self-concept has also showed great influences on their social skills.Quantitative research and qualitative research methods have been used in this research in order to thoroughly analyzing foster children's social skills in this research; and the primary results have clearly showed us the traits and influential factors; this research has greatly enriched the study of foster children's socialization from the theoretical point of view; it has also provided some practical guidelines for the cultivation and training of foster children's social skills.