The Social Ecology of Middle Childhood: Family Support, Friendship Quality, and Self-Esteem* Nathalie Franco** and Mary J. Levitt Parents and peers have been studied extensively as distinct agents of socialization. However, less attention has been paid to the interface of the family and peer subsystems or to the role of nonparental family members, particularly during the pre-adolescent period referred to as middle childhood. The aims of this study were (a) to examine the linkage between social support provided to the child in the context of the family and the quality of children's friendships outside the family and (hj to determine whether family support and friendship quality contribute uniquely to the child's self-esteem. Personal interviews were conducted with 185 fifth-grade African American, European American, and Hispanic American children to obtain measures of family support, friendship quality, and self-esteem. Across ethnic groups, family support was predictive of friendship quality and both family support and friendship quality were associated with self-esteem. Parents, nonparental adult family members, and siblings contributed differentially to different components of friendship quality, affirming the value of a social network perspective for the study of developmental issues. Family and peer contributions to the social development of the child have been studied in parallel for some time. However, relatively little research has been addressed to the linkages between family and peer socialization or to the conjoint effects that family members and peers might have on child well-being, particularly in the pre-adolescent years (Parke & Buriel, 1997). Family and friendship ties have been viewed as stemming from separate systems serving different functions in the course of development. From a social network perspective, however, family and peer relations are subentities of a broader social ecology and they may serve both overlapping and differential functions with respect to developmental outcomes (Bryant, 1985; Bronfenbrenner & Crouter, 1983; Franco & Levitt, 1997; Furman & Buhrmester, 1985; Levitt, 1991; Lewis & Feiring, 1989). Both family members and peers may serve as attachment figures (Ainsworth, 1989; Freud & Dann, 1951; Ladd & Price, 1987) and providers of social support (Bukowski & Hoza, 1989; Levitt, GuacciFranco, & Levitt, 1993; Markus & Nurius, 1984). Family and peer support each contribute to well-being (van Aken & Asendorpf, 1997). On the other hand, egalitarian relations with peers may provide children with unique experiences necessary for the development of interactional skills, such as communication, perspective-taking, and conflict-resolution (Bukowski & Hoza, 1989; Dunn, 1993; Hartup 1983). Interest in the interface of family and peer relations has developed around the parent-child attachment literature, as the presence of one or more secure attachments in early childhood has been shown to predict later relations with peers. For instance, children who were securely attached as infants have been found to be more competent with peers during the preschool years (Elicker, Englund, & Sroufe, 1992; La Freniere & Sroufe, 1985). In addition, children who have a warm relationship with their parents and whose parents set clear and consistent rules get along better with their peers (Cohn, Patterson, & Christopoulos, 1991). Furthermore, sociable children have reported more supportive relationships with parents than aggressive or withdrawn children (East, 1991). In general, the findings of studies examining familypeer linkages have revealed that parents' personal characteristics, parenting styles, disciplinary techniques, interaction patterns, the quality of child-parent attachment, and parental support influence children's peer relations (East, 1991; Ladd, 1992; Putallaz & Heflin, 1990; Stocker, 1994). Although this research establishes a link between the family and peer subsystems, it is limited by its focus on the parent-child relationship. …