Little is known about early parental influences which may facilitate or inhibit the development of social competence in young children, although social competence in childhood is an important predictor of adjustment in adolescence and early adulthood. In order to achieve the objective of planning intervention strategies for children at risk for developing dysfunctional social relationships in extra-familial, peer contexts, more information is needed about the connections between the quality of the early mother-child relationship and subsequent social competence with peers.
The specific aims are (a) to compare mother-child dyads with an insecure attachment history, to those with a secure attachment history, with respect to the child's social problem-solving skills and the mother's teaching and management styles during peer interaction, (b) to determine the relationship between the maternal belief system regarding the development of social competence and her behavior during peer interaction, and (c) to identify those children who appear to be the least socially competent so that more detailed analyses of the behaviors of these children and their mothers can be performed and intervention strategies planned. Assessments will occur when the children are 41-42 months old. The mothers will be interviewed regarding their beliefs about the development of social skills and their child's peer experience. The children will be interviewed, using a hypothetical-reflective measure, to ascertain their social-cognitive skills. The mother and child and an unfamiliar same-age, same-sex peer will also be videotaped interacting in a free-play, and a semi-structured situation designed to elicit common preschool social dilemmas and consequently evoke maternal involvement. The children will also interact briefly without the mother present. The children will be paired on the basis of their attachment classifications in the Strange Situation at 20 months. Maternal teaching styles and management techniques, and her child's compliance and social problem-solving skills will be coded from the videotapes.
| Booth, C L; Rubin, K H; Rose-Krasnor, L (1998) Perceptions of emotional support from mother and friend in middle childhood: links with social-emotional adaptation and preschool attachment security. Child Dev 69:427-42 |
| Rubin, K H; Lynch, D; Coplan, R et al. (1994) ""Birds of a feather..."": behavioral concordances and preferential personal attraction in children. Child Dev 65:1778-85 |
