Translate 
Abstract
The development of secure relationships between children and their adult carers, across the earliest years of life, emerges within a multifaceted and complex relational ecology. Here we present findings from a systematic scoping review designed to map the extent to which the relational ecology of child-caregiver relationships across early life (from conception to age 3years) has been studied. A first phase of the review searched for studies that used applied social network analysis (SNA) to measure the relational ecology. A second phase extended the scope to studies of associations between individual elements of the relational ecology and the early child-caregiver relationship. Searches were conducted between February and September, 2023, rerun in March 2025and in total, yielded 11,226 articles for screening. We found no studies using SNA to investigate the relational ecology of early child-caregiver relationship development. We did, however, find 122 studies that examined individual predictors across the relational ecosystem of the early child-caregiver relationship. Most studies focused on the family microsystem and in particular the mother-child relationship. Few studies examined other aspects of the microsystem, or higher levels of the relational ecosystem (meso-, exo- or macrosystems). Our findings highlight that much of the broader relational ecology of early child relational health development continues to be neglected in observational research. Future research should consider using novel methods like SNA to capture and explain interconnections between relationships at all levels of the relational ecology of early child-caregiver relationship development.
Highlights
Child development emerges within a rich tapestry of relationships that sit within the various settings in which children live and grow, including the family, early education and childcare, and neighbourhood and wider community settings, as well as the connections between them, and the institutions and societal values that support them (Bronfenbrenner, 1977, 2005)
Neal & Neal, 2017), we examined the use of social network analysis (SNA) methods to model the relational ecology of early child development
The first phase of the review identified 67 population-based cohort studies that applied the principles and methods of social network analysis to study the relational ecology of child development
Summary
Child development emerges within a rich tapestry of relationships that sit within the various settings in which children live and grow, including (but not limited to) the family, early education and childcare, and neighbourhood and wider community settings, as well as the connections between them, and the institutions and societal values that support them (Bronfenbrenner, 1977, 2005). The qualities of relationships that support healthy development have been well described over the last century. Related microsystems include the early childcare microsystem (e.g., childcare workers and nannies), family, peer and community microsystems (e.g., family’s friends and neighbours), and broader government and non-government sponsored health systems (e.g., medical and allied health professional). Quality connections between microsystems (e.g., between parents and childcare) further strengthen the overall social ecology of early development forming another layer of the social ecology referred to as the mesosystem (see Fig. 1)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Paper version not known (
Free)
Published Version
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
