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СоциальнаЯ компетентность подростков: роль социального познания и контроля поведения
Social competence during adolescence plays a crucial role in socialization and psychological well-being. Available data suggest that social cognition (theory of mind, ToM) and self-regulation (behavioral control) abilities make a significant contribution to social competence at a young age, but research on their role in adolescence is still limited. The purpose of the research is to study the role of behavior control and ToM in the social competence of adolescents. The study involved 106 6–8-grade students (girls ‒ 51), aged 12–15 years (Me = 13, SD = 0.87). The BRIEF questionnaire was used to assess their behavior control; ToM was assessed using tasks for understanding high-order false beliefs. For external assessment of the social competence of the participants, a questionnaire for teachers and a sociometric method were used. The groups of the adolescents, divided by the median criterion, were com- pared using the overall BRIEF regulation index and the total score for false-belief understand- ing. The most salient differences in the teachers’ and peers’ assessments of the social compe- tence were found between the contrasting groups of the participants, i.e., with high levels of ToM and behavior control and with low levels of these abilities. At the same time, differences in the teachers’ assessments were observed for both positive and negative assessments but, in sociometric indices, only for negative ones. The teachers considered the adolescents with high levels of behavior control to be more socially competent, regardless of their level of so- cial cognition. For the peers, the level of behavioral control mattered only when the ability to assess the mental states of other people was weak. The results of our study show the im- portance of the role of social cognition and behavioral control in the implementation of social- ly competent behavior in adolescents. At the same time, the data obtained indicate the hetero- geneity of the contribution of these abilities to the social competence of adolescents assessed by peers and teachers.