DETERMINANTS OF PEER COMPETENCE IN CHILDREN OF WELL AND DEPRESSED MOTHERS

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A child's ability to initiate and maintain a positive and competent interaction with peers is among the most important developmental tasks of childhood, particularly at the time when children make a transition from the family to broader social systems (between ages 4 and 6). Both family influences, and the child's temperamental qualities, such as shyness and inhibition to unfamiliar events, have been implicated as important determinants of a child's success in peer relations. In this study, we have examined how children's temperament and the style of maternal rearing predict the children's competence and interactive style with peers. The mothers and children from the sample described in the Protocol 79-M-123 are studied at age 5, while interacting with unfamiliar peers. Children who as toddlers were assessed as shy and inhibited in new situations are highly passive and withdrawn in the play situation with unfamiliar peers 2-3 years later. Children whose mothers used highly power-assertive and unclear methods of discipline are less competent during the social interaction with peers than children whose mothers resorted to the strategies of polite guidance.