Perceived security, self-representation, and dyadic child-parent and child-peer play interactions : a longitudinal study

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to increase our understanding and knowledge of the relation between children's two social worlds, that of parents and that of peers. This dissertation contains a number of articles reporting on the relation between perceived security, self-representation, and dyadic child-parent and child-peer play interactions. Central questions presented in these studies were a) whether child-parent and child-peer interactions are similar or different on several observed characteristics, b) whether children's internal working models of the self and of the relationship with others [i.e., self-representation and perceived security of the relationship with parents] are related, and c) whether children's perceived security of the relationship with parents as well as children's self-representation are reflected in children's interactions with parents and peers. About seventy children and their parents participated at ages seven and nine. Children were visited twice at home to videotape play interaction with mother and father, separately. Furthermore, these children were interviewed at school about self-representation and perceived security of the relationship with parents. Play interaction with a same gender classmate was also videotaped in the school setting. In chapter 1, several theoretical perspectives with respect to the relation between the tow social worlds of children will be reviewed, followed by a discussion of the main concepts and the relations between the main concepts. Thereafter, the project design is presented. In the final section the outline of this thesis is given. In chapter 2, it is studied whether child-parent and child-peer interactions of seven-year-old children are different or similar on shared positive emotions, total control, balance in control, simultaneous play, mutual responsiveness, and discord. Clear differences in mean proportions of child-mother and child-father interactions on the one hand, and child-peer interactions on the other hand were found. Consistency between dyads with the same target child was not found. In chapter 3 it is examined whether perceived security of the relationship with parents is related to global and domain-specific self-representation, cross-sectionally and longitudinally at ages seven and nine. Cross-sectional positive relations were found between perceived security of the relationship with mother and father and aspects of self-representation at ages seven and nine. Moderate stability between ages seven and nine was found for perceived security of the child-mother relationship and for cognitive competence. Individual and joint contribution of perceptions of the child-mother and child-father relationship to global and domain-specific self-representation at ages seven and nine were studied in chapter 4. It was found that perceived security of the relationship with mother and father were both predictive of the positiveness of the self at age seven. Openness at age seven was predicted by the perceived security of the child-father relationship, but not the child-mother relationship. At age nine, some domains of self-representation (i.e, physical appearance and global self-worth) were predicted by perceptions of both parental relationships. In the last empirical study, reported in chapter 5, it is examined whether differences in perceived security of the relationship with parents and self-representation are reflected in child-parent and child-peer interactions. At age nine, children with secure perceptions of the child-mother relationship showed more mutual responsiveness and less total control. With respect to observed characteristics of child-father and child-peer interactions, no differences were found. It was found that shared positive emotions during child-father interaction at age nine were predicted by perceived security of the relationship with father at age seven. Furthermore, shared positive emotions during child-peer interaction at age nine were predicted by perceived security of both parental relationships at age seven, and also by positiveness and openness of self-representation at age seven. In the final chapter, a summary of conclusions and a general discussion are presented.