Children's Peer Interactions Research Articles

Learning in the Social Environment: Cameos From Two Children's Experience of Starting Childcare

SUMMARYThis paper presents case study data about what two under three-year-old children learnt on entry into the social environment of their first childcare centre. The data are part of a qualitative study of starting childcare, carried out in 5 different childcare centres in New Zealand. This study xplored this event from the perspective of mothers, teachers and children. The analysis in this paper is based on fieldnotes and video records of the children s experiences gathered during the children s orientation visits to their childcare centre, and for six weeks after they started attending without a home adult. The paper argues that children's peer interactions were a powerful mechanism through which the new children learnt about life in the childcare centre. This included learning about rules of interaction in the group setting, rules about physical aggression and learning how to take one s place in the existing peer group. In addition, there was evidence that the social context of the childcare centre was implicated in the children s learning about the physical elements of the centre environment. The early childhood teacher s role in this learning is also discussed.

Peer interaction and loneliness in high-functioning children with autism.

Social interaction with peers and the understanding and feelings of loneliness were examined in 18 high-functioning children with autism and 17 typically developing children matched for IQ, chronological age, gender, and maternal education. Observations were conducted on children's spontaneous social initiations and responses to their peers in natural settings such as recess and snack time, and children reported on their understanding and feelings of loneliness and social interaction. Overall, children with autism revealed a good understanding of both social interaction and loneliness, and they demonstrated a high level of social initiation. However, they spent only half the time in social interactions with peers compared with their matched counterparts, and they interacted more often with a typically developing child than with another special education child. Despite the intergroup differences in frequency of interaction, a similar distribution of interactions emerged for both groups, who presented mostly positive social behaviors, fewer low-level behaviors, and very infrequent negative behaviors. Children with autism reported higher degrees of loneliness than their typical age-mates, as well as a lower association between social interaction and loneliness, suggesting their poorer understanding of the relations between loneliness and social interaction. Research and practice implications of these findings are discussed.

Argument Structure, Argument Content, and Cognitive Change in Children's Peer Interaction

In this experimental study, the author examined whether children's conversations play a role in the processes of influence between peers. Children, aged 8 to 10 years, who were at different levels of moral development participated. The conversations of 120 children were coded and analyzed in terms of argument structure and content. Results indicated that the differences in structure between boys' and girls' arguments are stylistic and do not influence conversation outcomes. The children's use of the structural features of conversations suggested that when a more advanced position is adopted, the arguments themselves appear to inspire cognitive change. However, when a less advanced position is adopted, the children who influence their peers invoke a particular and insistent conversational style. Results are discussed in terms of transmission and constructivist accounts of the role of social interaction in cognitive development.

Contextual determinants of mothers' interventions in young children's peer interactions.

Contextual determinants of mothers' interventions in young children's peer interactions.

Contextual determinants of mothers' interventions in young children's peer interactions.

In this study, the role of context in mothers' interventions in their preschool children's peer relationship problems was investigated. Event theme (aggression, peer rebuff, or initiating play), the child's role in the event (actor or target), the child's age and sex, and the mother's emotional reaction were examined as predictors of the extent to which mothers (N = 71) said they would discuss peer relationships, encourage peer interaction, and use power assertion in response to a series of videotaped vignettes depicting common peer relationship problems. Mothers suggested using more discussion in aggressive situations and more encouragement in initiating play situations. Mothers said they would use more power assertion when the child was the actor (i.e., provocateur), rather than the target, in an aggressive situation. Findings are discussed in terms of (a) the importance of considering context in understanding how mothers intervene in their children's peer relationships and (b) the need to examine moderators of cross-contextual consistency in mothers' interventions.

Child Care and Children's Peer Interaction at 24 and 36 Months: The NICHD Study of Early Child Care

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care were examined to determine how children's experiences in child care were related to peer competence at 24 and 36 months of age, after controlling for the effects of family and child characteristics. Peer competence was assessed using mother and caregiver ratings as well as observations of children with their peers in child care, and at 36 months from observations of dyadic play with a familiar peer. Consistent, albeit modest, relations were found between child-care experiences in the first 3 years of life and children's peer competencies. Positive, responsive caregiver behavior was the feature of child care most consistently associated with positive, skilled peer interaction in child care. Children with more experience in child-care settings with other children present were observed to be more positive and skilled in their peer play in child care, although their caregivers rated them as more negative with playmates. Children who spent more hours in child care were rated by their caregivers as more negative in peer play, but their observed peer play was not related to the quantity of care. Child-care experiences were not associated with peer competence as rated by mothers or as observed in dyadic play with a friend. Maternal sensitivity and children's cognitive and language competence predicted peer competence across all settings and informants, suggesting that family and child-care contexts may play different, but complementary roles in the development of early emerging individual differences in peer interaction.

An Intervention Hierarchy for Promoting Young Children's Peer Interactions in Natural Environments

Young children's peer-related social competence has been viewed as a critical developmental competency during early childhood. Nevertheless, a number of young children, particularly young children who have disabilities or who are at risk for disabilities, have peer interaction difficulties. During the last several decades, various intervention strategies for improving young children's peer interactions have been developed, refined, and evaluated in early childhood programs. This article presents a conceptual framework based on an intervention hierarchy for assisting interventionists in deciding how to promote the peer interactions of young children with peer-related social competence difficulties in natural environments. We discuss making developmentally appropriate and inclusive early childhood programs the foundation for improved peer interactions. Several illustrative and empirically validated intervention strategies for these children are presented and recommendations are made regarding flexible employment of the hierarchy to individualize peer interaction interventions.

Delayed Children's Social Interactions Focus for Intervention

Developmentally delayed (DD) children have been found to differ from non-delayed (ND) children in the nature of their social interactions. This interaction deficit in DD children appears to be beyond that expected on the basis of assessed cognitive levels and requires further investigation. The current study utilised the ethological method to observe and record the pattern of social interactions in DD and ND preschoolers. The results confirmed previous findings of a peer interaction deficit in DD children. However, contrary to previous research, the DD children were not found to initiate more interactions with teachers than did the ND children. Teachers were observed to initiate a higher frequency of interactions with the DD children, relative to the ND children. This increased teacher direction of DD children is discussed along with other factors that may possibly contribute to DD children's peer interaction deficit. Areas requiring intervention and potential intervention strategies are highlighted.

Social Functioning in Children with a Chronic Illness

Behavioural, cognitive, and affective aspects of social functioning of 107 children with a chronic illness were studied. The aim of the study was twofold: (1) to describe peer interaction of children with a chronic illness in comparison with normative data of healthy children; (2) to examine whether peer interaction was related to the illness characteristics physical restrictions and pain. Peer interaction was assessed with measures of social activities (CBCL), parent-reported social skills (CABS), child-reported social skills (MESSY), social self-esteem (SPPC), and social anxiety (SASK). Results showed no differences between diagnosis groups, suggesting that the social consequences of chronic illness are not diagnosis specific. Compared with healthy norms, chronically ill children reported less aggressive behaviour. The parent-report measures suggested a similar trend. Children with chronic illness also tended to display more submissive behaviour than healthy norms, as perceived by their parents. With regard to illness characteristics, both physical restrictions and pain were associated with restricted social activities, but not with other measures of social peer interaction. Children who display submissive behaviour and children who are restricted in their social activities should receive extra attention because they are especially vulnerable for problems in their social development.

Preschoolers' Classroom Activities and Interactions with Peers and Teachers

The present study was designed to investigate whether or not preschool children's classroom activities and interactions vary according to the power structure of their relationships. We examined the frequencies of children's play and problem-solving activities, and management, collaboration, and assistance interactions in these activities as a function of children's relationships with their teachers and peers. We had two expectations: 1) Preschool children would engage in problem-solving activities with their teachers, who are inherently more powerful; but they would engage in play activities with their peers with whom they share power. 2) Teacher–child interactions would involve primarily management and assistance but child-peer interactions would involve collaborations. We observed 55 children during their free-activity, noting partners, and narrating the actions and utterances of all the participants in writing during the observations. Our analyses were based on the coding of narratives, and they revealed that the power structure of children's relationships plays a role in their activities and interactions. We found that children's problem-solving occurred with both teachers and peers. Play activities occurred overwhelmingly with peers. Management and assistance took place mostly in teacher–child interaction, but collaboration occurred primarily with peers. These findings support the developmental theory that adults and peers contribute to children's development and education through different kinds of activities and interactions.

Fostering peer interaction, imaginative play and spontaneous language in children with autism

Freddy is a 7-year-old boy diagnosed with autism and severe language delay. He attends a special day class for children with moderate to severe disabilities in a public elementary school. Freddy is beginning to show an interest in his peers. In free play situations he generally watches and plays in parallel with other children, particularly when they engage in the few activities that are of interest to him. His play interests mainly revolve around his fascination with commercial products including packaged foods and cosmetics. He often repeats television commercials and gazes at photographs of these products. Freddy also enjoys manipulating these products by tapping them on his chin and lining up and sorting various containers by colour and size. Guided by his teacher, Freddy participates in an Integrated Play Group with one other classmate with special needs and three typically developing peers from third and fourth grade general education classes. These groups meet twice weekly for 30 minutes in Freddy’s classroom.

Fostering peer interaction, imaginative play and spontaneous language in children with autism

Fostering peer interaction, imaginative play and spontaneous language in children with autism

Teachers' Interventions in Preschool and Kindergarten Children's Peer Interactions

This study describes early childhood teachers' (n=25) behaviors when they became involved in children's naturally occurring peer interactions in the context of free choice activities. Relationships of these teacher interventions to adult/child classroom ratio, teacher education, teacher beliefs, and program quality were also examined. Results indicate that teachers became involved in an average of 5.5 peer interaction episodes in each 30-minute observation period. The most commonly observed interventions were statements of rules and commands, and interventions in which the teacher terminated a peer interaction. Overall program quality, high adult/child ratio, teachers' beliefs about developmentally appropriate practice, and teachers' level of education were related positively to a variety of interventions having the potential to help children become autonomous in negotiating successful peer interaction. Greater specialized preparation in early childhood education was associated with more frequent intervention in peer interactions. Results suggest the importance of maintaining overall program quality, including appropriate ratios, as a means of supporting early childhood teachers' ability and availability to effectively scaffold children's social interactions. While results of this study do not suggest strong implications for the practice of teacher education, future directions for investigations of the role of teacher education are suggested.

Generalization of social skills to peer interactions in a child with language delays

Researchers in this study have attempted to determine whether integrating generalization promoting strategies into intervention procedures would enhance the generalization and maintenance of social skills to peer interactions in a preschoold child with language delays. This intervention took place in the natural environment of the day care facility where the child was enrolled. A multiple baseline across behaviors design addressed social response behavior, approach behavior, and play organizers. The intervention utilized a prompting and social reinforcement procedure with minimal adaptations of the onging classroom activities to systematically improve the target child's peer interactions. Several generalization promoting strategies were also used. Improvements in all three types of behavior and generalization of treatment effects across persons, settings, and time were observed. These results lend support for the value of integrating several generalization promoting strategies pre-experimentally into the intervention instead of relying on post hoc evaluation of intervention. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What should be the focus of emotion regulation in children? A nonlinear dynamic mathematical model of children's peer interaction in groups.

This paper questions the assumption that children's social and emotional competence be placed within the developing child, rather than in the interaction of the child with the range of peer social ecologies in which the children might function. This paper presents a new nonstatistical mathematical approach to modeling children's peer social interaction in small groups using nonlinear difference equations in which both an uninfluenced and an influenced regulatory set point of positive minus negative interaction can be separately estimated. Using this model and the estimation procedure, it is possible to estimate what a focal child and the group initially brings to the group interaction and also how these regulatory set points are influenced by the interaction to determine two influenced regulatory set points. Six-person mainstreamed and specialized groups were established involving three types of unacquainted preschool boys: children with and without developmental delays and a language disordered but intellectually normally functioning group, using a methodology that ensured appropriate matching of child and family characteristics. For each 2-week play group, the social interactions of each child were observed during a designated free play period. Handicapped children were observed in either a specialized or mainstreamed setting. The application made of this modeling process in this paper is generating theory to attempt to understand influence processes. Parameters are introduced that reflect uninfluenced target child and group set points, emotional inertia, and influence functions.

Attachment, parenting, and peer interactions of toddler children.

Attachment, parenting, and peer interactions of toddler children.

Attachment, parenting, and peer interactions of toddler children.

The relation of parenting variables and attachment classification to peer relations was studied for 156 families with toddler children. Children were observed at 18 months of age in the home with their parents and from 18 to 24 months of age in peer playgroups. Playgroup teachers rated the children's ability to get along with their peers. Also when children were 18 months, they were assessed with their mothers in the Strange Situation, and an attachment classification was made. There were significant differences in peer reactions to children of different attachment classifications. Insecure-resistant children received fewer positive reactions to their positive behaviors, and both resistant and avoidant children received more negative reactions to their positive behaviors. Hierarchical regressions were computed to examine the contribution of observed parent-child interactions and the attachment classification to peer interactions.

A review of the literature on Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder children: Peer interactions and collaborative learning

ADHD children may have social skill deficits in at least three main areas: social communication, poor emotional regulation, and social-cognitive biases. They also have cognitive difficulties which have implications for their learning. Based on a review of the literature, it is argued that maladaptive classroom peer interactions for ADHD children may disadvantage their learning on collaborative tasks. Although the literature is sparse in the area of peer interactions and collaborative learning for ADHD children, some suggestions for practice and future research are suggested. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

An Analysis of Self-Evaluation and Videotape Feedback for Improving the Peer Interactions of Students with Externalizing and Internalizing Behavioral Problems

We assessed the effects of a package consisting of self-evaluation via videotape feedback procedures on inappropriate and appropriate peer interactions of children with externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems. The children were selected from three inclusive classrooms, and all of the experimental sessions included peers who did not evidence behavioral problems. Multiple baseline and reversal designs were used to evaluate the impact of the intervention package on the diverse patterns of behavior displayed by the different groups of children. The results showed substantial increases in appropriate interactions for children with internalizing behavioral problems and substantial decreases in inappropriate interactions for children with externalizing behavioral problems. Two measures of social validity confirmed the presence of the externalizing and internalizing characteristics and offered validation for the effects of the intervention. The results are discussed in relation to the existing literature and the need for further research on social skills, generalization, and comprehensive support for children with emotional and behavioral problems.

The Peer Relations of Preschool Children with Communication Disorders

The peer-related social interactions of preschool-age children with communication disorders were compared to those of normally developing chronological age-mates. All children were previously unacquainted with one another and participated in a series of short-term play groups. Differences between the 2 groups emerged primarily in terms of overall social activity, as children with communication disorders engaged in fewer positive social interactions and conversed with peers less often during non-play activities. Children with communication disorders also were less successful in their social bids and appeared to be less directive with their peers. However, both groups of children exhibited similar patterns of socially competent interactions including the ability to sustain play (group play), to minimize conflict, to join others in ongoing activities, and to respond appropriately to the social bids of others. Based on peer sociometric ratings, both groups of children were equally accepted. These general patterns of similarities and differences were found in settings in which play groups consisted of all children with communication disorders (specialized settings) as well as in settings in which the play groups included both children with communication disorders and normally developing children (mainstreamed settings). However, even during the relatively brief acquaintanceship process, an analysis of peer preference patterns revealed that children with communication disorders in mainstreamed settings were less socially integrated in the play groups than normally developing children. The potential for additional difficulties in peer interactions for children with communication disorders when children become more familiar with one another and play becomes more intricate was discussed in light of interaction patterns formed during the short-term play groups.