The social worlds of childhood.

Abstract

The child's social world consists of many worlds, including the family system, the peer system, and the school. The nuclear family has been regarded as the preeminent socialization context because the child's earliest experiences occur within it and more time is consumed in family interaction than in interaction with other socialization agents. Nevertheless, extensions and elaborations of the child's social competencies occur outside the family through contact with many other individuals.Quite possibly the most serious oversight in the literature on social development is the absence of information concerning the interdependences existing between experiences in one social world and experiences in others. Most commonly, the interrelations between family socialization and peer socialization are characterized in terms of conflict, contention, and cross-pressures. The collision between these two social worlds draws more media attention than Star Wars and has been one of the most enduring subjects in western fiction. But collision may be an inappropriate metaphor: Mounting evidence shows that greater concordance than discordance exists between family relations and peer relations (Hartup, 1978; Hill, in press).Existing social science models are better suited to the study of intrasystem than intersystem dynamics. To be sure, the major theories of socialization have been epigenetic theories, each assuming carry-over or continuity from one social experience to the next, from one social world to another. But what is the nature of this carry-over? Increasingly, it seems not to be centered in individual traits or in processes of stimulus and response generalization.The purpose of this essay is to assess the state of the art in research on both intrasystem dynamics in the socialization of the child and intersystem dependencies. A conjunctive model of intersystem dependencies, resting only loosely on traditional theories, is outlined below. Family relations are considered as antecedents to peer relations; intersystem dependencies involving the 944 • OCTOBER 1979 • AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST

From an insecure base: Parent‐child relations and internalizing behaviour in the pre‐school

“…Though the interdependencv or synergism that exists between *Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr Peter LaFreniere, Ecole de Psycho-Education, Universite de Montreal, 750 Boul Gouin E , Montreal Quebec'HZC 1A6, Canada these two distinct socialization systems at different points of development is not yet well understood, the accumulating empirical evidence on intersystem dependencies supports a conjunctive model rather than a simplistic additive model of social development (Hartup, 1979(Hartup, , 1983. Two types of existing evidence provide support for a conjunctive model: contemporaneous and longitudinal associations.…”

Individuation in Family Relationships

“…In early and middle childhood, children participate in two very different kinds of rela tionships [Hartup, 1979[Hartup, , 1983Youniss, 1980]. Among their peers, children have an opportunity to participate as relative equals in decision-making.…”

Marital conflict and boys' peer relationships: The mediating role of mother-son emotional reciprocity.

“…Evidence suggests that children whose peer relationships are characterized by high levels of aggression and who are rejected by peers are more likely to drop out of school, engage in delinquent behavior, and develop mental health problems (for a review see Parker, Rubin, Price, & DeRosier, 1995), whereas children who are accepted by peers are more likely to succeed in school (Wentzel & Asher, 1995) and experience positive adult adjustment (Bagwell, Newcomb, & Bukowski, 1998). In an effort to elucidate the origins of individual differences in the quality of children's peer relationships, and guided by theoretical proposals of connections between children's family experience and their peer relationships (Hartup, 1979;Youniss, 1980), researchers have turned to examine associations between children's family functioning and their peer competency (e.g., Gottman & Katz, 1989;MacDonald & Parke, 1984;Putallaz, 1987). Although the majority of work pertaining to linkages between the family and children's relationships with peers has focused on the parent-child relationship (Parke & Ladd, 1992;Parke et al, 1989), the interdependent and reciprocal nature of family relationships suggests that other aspects of family functioning may also have significant influence on children's relationships with peers.…”