Impact of Socio-economic Status on Socio-emotional Development of Children Attending Different Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Centers

The purpose of the 2018–20 study, which took place in the Karnataka state's Dharwad taluk, was to determine how children's social and emotional development was impacted by their socioeconomic status. The study's objectives were to evaluate the social and emotional development of children in both rural and urban locations, as well as to determine the impact of SES on these development factors. A total of 208 children aged between three and six years, comprising 104 from rural and 104 from urban areas, were chosen for the study. Children's social and emotional development was evaluated using the Transdiciplinary Play Based Assessment-2 instrument. The child's family's socioeconomic position was assessed using a Aggarwal Socio-economic status scale. A qualitative approach utilizing the naturalistic observation method was used to observe, analyze, and study the effects of play-based activities on social and emotional development. Naturalistic observations were produced by combining field notes from participant observation with video footage of kids playing in an unstructured manner. The findings showed that most kids in both urban and rural anganwadis were in the social and emotional development watch and worry category. The social and emotional development of children was shown to be significantly correlated with their socioeconomic level. According to the statistical analysis, preschoolers in both rural and urban areas showed a substantial relationship and difference. In both rural and urban settings, children from lower middle class families scored lower on social and emotional development and related domains than did children from upper middle class families.