Abstract

Social competence, seen as a capacity to create and maintain healthy relationships, involves behaviors valued positively by the community in which a subject develops. At school, the social competence acquires great importance; this is the reason why analyzing the sociometric typologies of the students according to the sex and academic course is considered necessary. This research involved 772 students from 26 different classrooms; they live in eight communities in the Ñuble region. There were 420 children (54.4%) and 352 girls (45.6%); of them, 250 children are in 4th grade, 274 in 5th grade, and 248 in 6th grade of elementary school. The instrument used is the Sociometric Questionnaire of peer nominations; it provides information about children who are rejected, ignored, and controversial; it also collects information about the average of preferred children in classrooms. The data were analyzed with the SOCIOMET software. The results indicate a higher percentage of rejected, ignored, and preferred boys than of girls in these typologies; this fact is also reiterated by the academic year. Besides, the indices of friendship in the different classrooms surpass the indices of enmity. Based on these results, interventions tailored to contextual requirements can be projected.

Keywords: Social competence; basic education; SOCIOMET