Mother-child and father-child mutuality in two contexts: consequences for young children's peer relationships

This study examines the role that context plays in links between relative balance, or mutuality in parent–child interaction and children's social competence. Sixty‐three toddlers and their parents were observed in a laboratory play session and caregiving activity (i.e. eating snack). Mutuality...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infant and child development 2010-03, Vol.19 (2), p.142-160
Main Authors: Lindsey, Eric W., Cremeens, Penny R., Caldera, Yvonne M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression
Aggressiveness
Caregivers
caregiving
Carers
Child care
Child Development
Compliance
Compliance (Psychology)
Correlation
father-child
Fathers
Intergenerational relationships
Interpersonal Competence
mother-child
Mothers
Mutuality
Parent Child Relationship
Parent-Child interactions
Peer Relationship
peer relationships
Positive affect
Positive Attitudes
Prosocial Behavior
Reciprocity
Scores
Social competence
Social skills
Toddlers
Young Children
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Summary:This study examines the role that context plays in links between relative balance, or mutuality in parent–child interaction and children's social competence. Sixty‐three toddlers and their parents were observed in a laboratory play session and caregiving activity (i.e. eating snack). Mutuality was operationalised as the relative balance in (a) partners' compliance to initiations, and (b) partners' expression of positive emotion. Caregivers rated children's social competence with peers, and children's prosocial and aggressive behaviour with peers was observed in their childcare arrangement. Contextual differences were observed in the manifestation of parent–child mutuality, with both mother–child and father–child dyads displaying higher mutual compliance scores in the play context than in the caregiving context. Father–child dyads also displayed higher levels of shared positive emotion during play than during the caregiving context. There were no differences in a way that parent–child mutuality during play and caregiving was associated with children's social competence with peers. Overall, the results suggest that parent–child mutuality is a quality of parent–child interaction that has consistent links to children's peer competence regardless of the context in which it occurs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1522-7227
1522-7219
DOI:10.1002/icd.645