Relating Individual Control, Social Understanding, and Gender to Child–Friend Interaction: A Relationships Perspective

Abstract

According to a relationships perspective, it is critical to consider how the individual behaviors and characteristics of both partners shape their social interaction. Adopting a relationships approach to the investigation of children's friendships, we examined how preschool children's and their friends' controlling behaviors, social understanding, and gender were related to their dyadic interaction. Child-friend dyads (n = 49) were videotaped in two laboratory play sessions (free play and sharing task), and child interviews assessed understanding of emotions and false beliefs. Both children's indirect control was associated with coordinated play during the free play session, and both children's direct control was associated with conflict during the sharing task. Moreover, dyadic interaction varied as a function of study children's social understanding, friends' social understanding, and play session. An interaction between gender composition and play session also emerged for dyadic conflict. Multiple regression analyses suggested that study children's controlling behaviors accounted for associations between dyadic interaction and more 'distal' individual factors (i.e., social understanding, gender). The findings underscore the need to examine how both children's individual competencies are related to the quality of their dyadic interaction and illuminate how the associations between individual factors and dyadic interaction are moderated by the interactive context.

Explaining cross-cultural service interactions in tourism with Shenkar's cultural friction

“…This supports the view that control is a salient key instigator to service interactions (Bitner, 1990). McElwain and Volling (2002) suggested that control is most often manifested through assertive behaviours -this was apparent in our narratives. For example, when Johan, a Malaysian service-provider with a Malay cultural background, noted that:…”

“…Control can, for example, be gained through the possession of cultural knowledge about oneself and about the person(s) with whom one is interacting (Gasset, 2003). Control also indicates status or social dominance (Lustig & Koester, 2006) and often manifested through 'assertive' verbal behaviours, such as giving a direct command or seeking collaboration (McElwain & Volling, 2002).…”

Asymmetries in the Friendship Preferences and Social Styles of Men and Women

“…For example, others who are perceived as possessing either much lower or much higher personal capacity cues, such as financial resources, should be less preferred as ideal friends-the former because of the low expectancy of reciprocal returns and the latter because of the potential for rejection or social exploitation. Defensive peer preferences that protect oneself against the potential for rejection by individuals who are perceived as possessing much higher personal capacity characteristics have been documented as early as 7 years of age (McElwain and Volling 2002). This suggests that peer preferences are relatively practical behavioral strategies that are influenced by one's reciprocity potential (perceived personal and interpersonal attributes).…”

“…Boys form larger groups and dominance hierarchies within these groups, whereas girls tend to form equitable dyads (Benenson 1993;Cheng and Chan 1999;Jennings et al 2001;Lever 1978;McHale et al 2004;Rose and Rudolph 2006;Strough and Covatto 2002). Boys are more efficient at group-level problem-solving tasks and competitive sports and girls at dyadic sharing tasks (Erwin et al 2004;Kurzban 2001;McElwain and Volling 2002). Experimental evidence suggests that boys' dominance hierarchies reduce intragroup conflict (Hemelrijk and Gygax 2004) and thus may facilitate group-level competition and problem solving (Savin-Williams 1987).…”

SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire): identificação de características comportamentais de crianças leitoras

“…Por outro lado, o desenvolvimento da linguagem também contribui para o estado emocional e comportamental. Com a capacidade para expressar opiniões, sentimentos, argumentar e entender crenças, idéias e desejos das outras pessoas, as crianças têm condições de criar soluções para resolver os problemas interpessoais, não necessitando criar conflitos e agressões físicas na tentativa de transmitir suas necessidades (McElwain & Volling, 2002).…”