Teachers' ratings are often used as early as the preschool period to provide an overall picture of children's behavioral adjustment and social competence. The goals of this study are to (1) show the relations among general, outcome-oriented observational categories of preschoolers' social competence and (2) specify those discrete emotions and reactions to emotions which are likely to form substantial bases of these more decontextualized teacher ratings. Thirty-one preschoolers between the ages of 31 and 54 months were rated by teachers using both the Baumrind Preschool Behavior Q-Sort and the Problem Behavior Questionnaire. They were also independently observed for emotions expressed and reactions to peers' emotions. Results indicated that there were more borderline and significant correlations between teacher ratings and observation than would be expected by chance. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed patterns of children's affective displays which predicted global teachers' ratings. A coherent, nonrandom relation was found between teachers' judgments of various aspects of adjustment/social competence and both children's affective expressions and their reactions to specific emotions of peers in the classroom. This study confirms a correspondence between molar and molecular means of assessing social-emotional competence in preschoolers. (Author/BN)