Children's Friendship Quality Research Articles

Chinese children’s heterogeneous friendship quality trajectories: Relations with school adjustment.

Friendships affect children's development and adjustment. This longitudinal study examined the possible heterogeneity and gender differences in the trajectories of children's friendship quality, as well as the relations between distinct friendship quality trajectories and school adjustment. A total of 3,779 Chinese elementary school students (45.5% girls, Mage = 9.94 years, SD = 0.72 at Time 1) completed measures of relevant constructs on five occasions at 6-month intervals. Latent class growth modeling revealed four heterogeneous developmental trajectory classes of friendship quality: high-increasing (49.6%), moderate-decreasing (5.1%), moderate-increasing (31.9%), and low-stable (13.4%). Girls were more likely than boys to fall into the higher friendship quality trajectory classes in reference to the low-stable class. Children in the high-increasing class and low-stable class showed the best and the worst school adjustment, respectively. The identification of four heterogeneous developmental trajectories of friendship quality with differential school adjustment outcomes highlights the importance of intervention programs tailored to specific groups for promoting children's friendship quality and school adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Parent-Assisted Children's Friendship Training to Improve Social Skills and Friendship Quality in Children with Autism in Malaysia.

Background: This study evaluates the effectiveness of parent-assisted children’s friendship training intervention for enhancing friendship quality and social skills among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We conducted a quasi-experimental study to investigate the effective outcomes of social skills and friendship quality in the pre-and post-parent-assisted CFT intervention phases; Methods: to conduct a 12-week field session, 30 children with their parents were selected. The Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales and the Quality of Play Questionnaire-Parent were used to assess the effectiveness of the parent-assisted children’s friendship training during pre-and post-intervention. A semi-structured interview with parents was conducted at the end of the session; Results: findings revealed that intervention improved the social skills of these children. Additionally, the friendship quality of children with ASD improved before and after the intervention, however, engagement remained unchanged. Parents also showed some sort of improvement after the session as they reported a heightened sense of fear and resistance, awareness, learning and adjustment, change is not easy, and identifying support; Conclusions: there was clear evidence that children with ASD benefitted from parent-assisted CFTs in terms of social skills and friendship quality. However, larger and controlled studies are required to draw firm conclusions about this kind of intervention.

The Relationship between assertive social skills and friendship quality of children with disability in Indonesian elementary schools

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between assertive social skills and the friendship quality of children with disability. A total of 84 students from 20 public elementary schools in the city of Jakarta were involved in this study. Data collection used the Social Skills Inventory Scale (SSIS) to measure assertive social skills, while the Friendship Quality Questionnaire (FQQ) was used to get a picture of the friendship quality. The results showed a significant positive relationship between assertive social skills and friendship quality in children (r = .321, p

Treatment of friendship problems in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Initial results from a randomized clinical trial.

This study evaluated a novel intervention for friendship problems in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Parental Friendship Coaching (PFC) teaches parents to coach their children in targeted friendship behaviors that are lacking in children with ADHD and that help children develop good quality friendships. Participants were 172 families of children with ADHD and social impairment (ages 6-11; 29.7% female) at two Canadian sites, randomized to PFC or to an active comparison intervention (Coping with ADHD through Relationships and Education; CARE) to control for common therapy factors. Questionnaire and observational measures assessing primary outcomes of children's friendship quality and secondary outcomes of children's friendship behaviors were collected at baseline, posttreatment, and 8-month follow-up. Across both treatment conditions, children showed improvements in positive friendship quality and in friendship behaviors. Relative to CARE, PFC was associated with somewhat more positive and less negative friendship behaviors at posttreatment and follow-up, but no difference between conditions was found in friendship quality. However, moderation analyses suggested that PFC may contribute to better friendship quality among families who had previous psychosocial treatment, as well as children with comorbid externalizing disorders. Although PFC showed some efficacy for affecting children's friendship behaviors, these changes may not translate into friendship quality. Nevertheless, PFC may improve friendship quality for at-risk subgroups of children with ADHD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Children's friendship quality trajectories from middle childhood to early adolescence and prediction from sex.

We investigated the development of children's self-reported positive (Companionship and Recreation, Validation and Caring, Help and Guidance, Intimate Disclosure, and Conflict Resolution) and negative (Conflict and Betrayal) friendship quality from the third to sixth grades using The National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development data (NICHD SECCYD; n = 1,364; M age = 9.03 years; 51.70% boys at recruitment). Consistent with expectations, growth models suggested that children reported higher positive, and lower negative, friendship quality with age. Boys had significantly lower positive friendship quality at third grade and slower increases than girls. Boys had slower decreases in negative friendship quality than girls. It is possible that different social orientations explain sex differences in friendship quality trajectories. Further research is needed to explore other factors that might account for individual differences in friendship quality trajectories.

Interrelation between empathy and friendship development during (pre)adolescence and the moderating effect of developmental language disorder: A longitudinal study

AbstractThe association between empathy and friendship quality in children and adolescents is well established, but longitudinal studies are lacking. Because social interactions typically involve language, these relations might be moderated by children's communication problems. The current study examined the interrelation of friendship quality (positive and negative) and empathy (affective, cognitive, and prosocial motivation) development of 317 children (8–16 years old) at three time points across 18 months. Of these children 112 had a developmental language disorder (DLD). Results confirmed a bidirectional relation between empathy and friendship quality across time. Cognitive empathy and prosocial motivation contributed to the development of more positive friendship features in children with and without DLD. For children with unstable friendships, more cognitive empathy was related to fewer negative friendship features. Positive friendship features in turn contributed to higher empathy on all three aspects. Negative friendship features were related to higher affective empathy and lower prosocial motivation in both groups, but did not predict empathy development across time. These results imply that positive friendship features are important for development of empathic skills and vice versa that empathy enables children to grow in friendship quality in children with and without DLD.

Effects of Childhood Life Events on Adjustment Problems in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study.

Stressful life events (SLEs) have been associated with adjustment problems in adolescence (APA) in cross-sectional studies. Using a longitudinal cohort, we examined the influence of these events and predefined covariates on APA and compared internalizing and externalizing trajectories among children with many versus few SLEs. Data were obtained from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. One thousand three hundred sixty-four children and their families were followed from child's birth until age 15 years. Adjustment problems at age 15 years were defined as high (>60 T-score) internalizing and/or externalizing problems on the Youth Self-Report and Child Behavior Checklist. Stressful life events were evaluated at 54 months, and third and fifth grade. Categories created by mixture model analyses for covariates were used in logistic regressions to predict adjustment problems. Mothers reported higher rates of adjustment problems than adolescents (21.1% vs 16.3%; p < 0.0001). Adjustment problems were associated with more SLEs (odds ratio [OR] = 1.7; p = 0.0042), male sex (OR = 1.9; p = 0.001), child's high emotional reactivity (OR = 1.6; p = 0.01), and paternal depression (OR = 2.1; p = 0.0165). Analysis using the mother's report of adjustment problems showed the same predictors, as well as lower maternal education level (OR = 3.5; p = 0.0003), and child's friendship quality (OR = 0.4; p = 0.005). Higher internalizing and externalizing T-scores were apparent in children with more SLEs from 2 years of age onward (ps < 0.0001). After adjusting for multiple covariates, SLEs during childhood predicted adjustment problems. Our results suggest that emotional reactivity and paternal depression play a role in the development of APA.

The indirect effects of maternal emotion socialization on friendship quality in middle childhood.

Emotion development processes have long been linked to social competence in early childhood but rarely have these associations been examined in middle childhood or with relational outcomes. Guided by theories of interpersonal relationships and emotion socialization, the current study was designed to fill these gaps by examining a longitudinal process model indirectly linking emotion development to friendship quality. Data were drawn from 336 children (179 girls, 65% White), their mothers, and their teachers across 3 time points spanning the ages of 5-10 years. A path analysis model was utilized to examine the way in which maternal emotion socialization indirectly affects children's friendship quality. Results supported the hypothesized model in which maternal emotion socialization strategies used when children were age 5 were associated with changes in friendship quality from ages 7 to 10 via changes in children's emotion regulation. Findings highlight the importance of emotional processes for relational outcomes in middle childhood.

Associations of Mothers' Friendship Quality with Adolescents' Friendship Quality and Emotional Adjustment

Little research has examined the association of parents' friendships with adolescent's well-being, perhaps because the association was considered too distal. However, developmental theories suggest that contexts in which parents, but not their children, are situated may be related to child development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; 1986). The current work examined associations between the quality of mothers' own friendships and their adolescent children's friendship quality and emotional adjustment. Fifth-, eighth-, and eleventh-graders (N = 172) whose mothers' friendships were characterized by conflict and antagonism reported having friendships that were high in negative friendship qualities as well as elevated internalizing symptoms. These associations held after controlling for mother-child relationship quality, suggesting that mothers' friendships may have a unique association with adolescents' adjustment.

Infant–mother attachment and children's friendship quality: Maternal mental-state talk as an intervening mechanism.

Utilizing data from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we investigated mothers' talk about mental states during play with their 24-month-old children as a mechanism though which infant-mother attachment was associated with children's later friendship quality. A series of repeated measures analyses of covariance indicated that a secure versus avoidant or disorganized infant-mother attachment was associated with more maternal talk about cognitions (but not emotions or desires) at 24 months. Latent growth curve models tested within a structural equation modeling framework revealed indirect effects of infant-mother attachment on observed and mother-reported positive friendship interaction at 54 months and decreases in mother-reported negative friendship interaction from 54 months to 1st grade via maternal cognitive talk at 24 months.

Aggressive, rejected, and delinquent children and adolescents: a comparison of their friendships

Research on children and adolescents who engage in antisocial behaviors generally has used three indices: aggression, social rejection, and delinquency. Although research in these indices remains relatively independent of each other, a common focus has been to examine peer influence on antisocial behavior. Further, researchers have been particularly interested in peer influences in the context of friendship, perhaps because friendships are special and voluntary close relationships, which presumably have a major impact on development. However, research on the friendships of children and adolescents who engage in antisocial behavior has not been directly compared across these indices. The present review provides this examination. Although rejected children have fewer friends than aggressive children and delinquent adolescents, friendships with peers who engage in antisocial behaviors were found to increase one's own antisocial status across all three indices. Little is known about the characteristics of rejected and aggressive children's friends, but research has suggested the importance of nonschool friendships and of nonstructured activities for delinquents. Although aggressive and delinquent children were often friends with others who engaged in these behaviors, rejected children perhaps selected friends based not on similarity but on availability, and were often friends with younger or cross-gender peers. Finally, although research examining positive features of aggressive, rejected, and delinquent children's friendship quality reported mixed results, the friendships of children of all three antisocial behavior indices were reported as high in friendship conflict. More research is needed, particularly examining the role of friendships during the transition from childhood antisocial behaviors to delinquency.

The Three Faces of Friendship

This article sets out to establish a clear distinction between having friends, the identity of one's friends and friendship quality in children and adolescents. Problems regarding identifying children's friends, the significance of having friends and the quality of friendships in relation to developmental outcome are examined. The author urges the adoption of sounder measures of multidimensional assessment and more comprehensive, longer-term longitudinal designs.

Mothers' and Children's Friendships: Intergenerational Associations

We assessed predictability of the friendship participation and quality, as well as the popularity, of 154 children 8 to 12 years of age from measures of their mothers' social relationships. Measures included questionnaires assessing qualities of the mothers' best friendships and the quality of the marital relationship, and an interview measure of maternal acceptance of the child. Results indicated that qualities of the mothers' best friendship, in particular self-referent reward qualities, significantly predicted child friendship participation, the closeness and helpfulness of children's friendships, child popularity and maternal acceptance. Marital status was an important predictor, and marital quality a lesser predictor, of child friendship quality but not of popularity. Results suggest domain-specific parental influences on children's friendships which are distinct from peer popularity.