Social Skills and School Readiness in Young Children Exposed to Violence

Witnessing violence is associated with negative outcomes for preschool-aged children, including lowered school readiness; however, not all children evidence negative outcome, indicating the presence of protective factors. This study examined social skills as a moderator of the relation between violence exposure and school readiness in preschool-aged children. Seventy-eight children completed a measure of school readiness, and their caregiver completed measures of social skills, witnessed violence exposure, and direct victimization. Results revealed that social skills moderated the witnessed violence–school readiness association, controlling for direct victimization and family income. When children evidenced more appropriate social skills, witnessed violence and school readiness were inversely related. However, for children whose caregivers endorsed less appropriate social skills, there was no association between witnessed violence and school readiness.