Interparental Conflict and Preschoolers’ Peer Relations: The Moderating Roles of Temperament and Gender

Abstract

The relations between destructive interparental conflict (IPC) and three-to six-yearolds' ( N = 62) peer relations were examined as a function of child temperament and gender. Regression analyses indicated that effortful control moderated the relations of IPC with children's amount of peer interaction as well as with their problematic relations with peers. Specifically, high IPC was associated with low amount of interaction and high problematic relations for preschoolers low in effortful control, but it was related to high amount of interaction and low problems for those high in effortful control. Additionally, gender differences in the relations between IPC and the amount of peer interaction indicated that IPC was negatively related to the amount of interaction for girls but positively related to the amount for boys. The findings highlight the need for examining individual differences in the relations between IPC and the development of early peer relations.

Temperament and peer relations: investigating the effect the temperament of 5–6-year-olds has on their peer relations

“…Aggressive/ rejected children were defined as having a difficult temperament, and they developed sociably unsuitable entry strategies into their peer group. Results of a study conducted on 62 children, aged between 3 and 6, to analyse their peer relations in terms of child temperament (David & Murphy, 2007) are similar to results obtained from this study; child temperament has a predictor effect on peer relations of children. Preschool children, who require less effortful control, experience adverse peer relations in comparison to children who require a higher level of effortful control.…”

Aggression Levels of 5- to 6-Year-Old Turkish Children in Terms of Gender, Age, and Peer Relations Variables

“…Other subject-related studies also obtained similar results (Bierman, 2005;David, 2004;Erwin, 1993) in favor of boys. Boys can exhibit stricter, more oppressive, verbal, and physical aggression toward peers in comparison to girls.…”

Relationships Between Teachers and Preschoolers Who Are At Risk: Contribution of Children's Language Skills, Temperamentally Based Attributes, and Gender

“…Studies of elementary students characteristically have shown that boys exhibit less closeness and more conflict in their relationships with teachers (Baker, 2006;Birch & Ladd, 1997Hughes, Cavell, & Willson, 2001;Kesner, 2000;Murray & Murray, 2004), and data available in Baker, Hughes et al, and Murray and Murray have shown these differences to be characterized by small (for closeness) to medium-size (for conflict) effects for boys versus girls in kindergarten through fifth grade. Given the tendency for boys to exhibit differences in both language competence (see Pence & Justice, 2007) and control attributes (see David & Murphy, 2007) relative to girls, this study considered whether gender moderated the relationships between language competence and the teacher-child relationship and between temperamentally based child attributes and the teacher-child relationship. In sum, the questions addressed in this study were threefold: (a) To what extent do preschoolers' language skills, temperamentally based attributes, and gender predict teacher-child relationship quality?…”