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Introduction. Although the study of Social Competence is now firmly established, certain studies are still needed to delineate the circumstances and variations found in different age groups. In particular, self-evaluation of social competence is a necessary point of view, and has been studied less than evaluations performed by the teacher or by peers, in reference to the school context. The objective of this paper is to examine differences in various measurements of social competence in sixth-grade primary students (11-12 year-olds) who attend three schools from different sociocultural contexts: inner-city, middle income, and suburban. We also examined gender differences.

Method. We administered a series of questionnaires that measure appropriate and inappropriate social skills, empathy, aggressiveness, assertiveness, and passivity towards adults and towards peers. Gender and social context were independent variables considered for the analysis. The dependent variables were 12 social skills and behavioral problems that made up the composite measurement of social competence which we used.

Results. Results show that empathy, inappropriate assertiveness and jealousy/isolation vary as a function of the interaction between gender and social context. The only fundamental effect due to gender was found in the impulsiveness variable, with the boys showing higher scores. The fundamental effect of social context proved more powerful than that of gender, also revealing differences in several variables not involved in the interaction.

Discussion. Differences relating to social context are interpreted as a function of cultural variations in the …