Perceived social-emotional competence: A multidimensional examination and links with social-emotional motivation and behaviors

This study examined perceived social-emotional competence (perceived-SEC) and its links with students' social -emotional motivation (i.e., autonomous and controlled motivation) and behavior (parent-reported prosocial behavior and conduct problems). Five types of perceived-SEC were examined: perceived competence for asser-tiveness, tolerance, social regulation, emotion regulation, and emotional awareness. With data from 414 Australian students, structural equation modeling demonstrated that an overarching (global) perceived-SEC factor was positively associated with autonomous motivation, introjected regulation, and prosocial behavior, and negatively associated with conduct problems. Two specific dimensions also had unique associations with the behaviors: Perceived competence for social regulation was negatively associated with external motivation and conduct problems, and perceived competence for tolerance was positively associated with autonomous moti-vation. In turn, autonomous motivation was positively associated with prosocial behavior, whereas external motivation was positively associated with conduct problems. Findings hold relevance for efforts aiming to un-derstand the role of motivational drivers of students' social-emotional competence.