Stability and Fluidity in Friendship Patterns of Kindergarteners: Does Children’s Emotion Regulation and Maternal Friendship Management Matters?

Abstract

This two-wave study examined changes in kindergarteners' friendship patterns and their associations with emotion regulation and parental involvement in friendship management. Methods: Participants were 275 5-year-old children (138 girls and 137 boys) attending kindergartens in Korea. Utilizing nomination methods, each child identified three children as his/ her friends twice in 5 months. Teachers rated the children's emotion regulation and mothers rated their involvement with children. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-tests, and logistic regressions. Results: Children were classified into five groups according to their friendship stability in 5 months; stable, fluid, gain, loss, friendless. Kindergarteners with higher emotion regulation were more likely to belong to stable, fluid, gain and loss friendship groups than the friendless kindergarteners. Children whose mothers reported higher mediation and supervision in children's friendship establishment were more likely to belong to the friendship gain group than the friendless group. Children whose mothers expressed higher levels of concerns and advice to children were more likely to be in the fluid group than the gain one. Conclusion: Children's dispositions to control emotions and the mothers' involvement in children's making friends facilitate children's maintenance or making friendships.