Access Type
Open Access Dissertation
Date of Award
January 2016
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Marjorie Beeghly
Second Advisor
Ty Partridge
Abstract
The present study investigated the relationships between parents' proximal factors: strategies used to manage and facilitate children's peer relationships, knowledge of children's playmates and close friends, and endorsement of these strategies; and parents' distal factors: parenting stress, social support network, and personality, and children's quality of peer relationships. It also investigated the relationships between child age, gender, child temperament, and children's peer relationships and children's prosocial behavior. Parents' strategies used and endorsement of those strategies were unrelated to children's peer problems and prosocial behavior, but their knowledge of children's peer relationships was negatively related to children's peer problems. Parenting stress was positively related to children's peer problems and negatively related to children's prosocial behaviors. Total perceived social support was related to children's fewer peer problems and more prosocial behaviors. Social network size was not significantly related. Parents' agreeableness was negatively related to children's peer problems and their extraversion was positively related to children's prosocial scores. Parents with higher parenting stress reported less management of their children's peer relationships. Their total perceived social support was positively related to their management of their child's peer relationships. Agreeableness was the only personality dimension related to their management of their children's peer relationships. Younger children received more involvement of their parents in their peer relationships than older children. No differences were found as a function of children's gender. Children's surgency was related to decreased peer problems and their effortful control was related to increased prosocial behaviors and parents' strategies used to improve children's peer relationships. Links between parenting stress and child temperament was found. Relationships between parents' personality and child temperament were also explored.
Recommended Citation
Bergeron, Nicholas Ryan, "A Developmental Contextualism Perspective On Young Children's Friendships: How Much Do Parental Characteristics, Parental Behaviors, Child Characteristics Matter?" (2016). Wayne State University Dissertations. 1518.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/1518