| The first relationships a child establishes are within the family context. As children grow older, their social interactions outside the family environment increase, and peers become more influential in their socialization. A very important research question in social development is how the family and the peer systems are related. Do children's interactions within the family influence children's interactions with peers? Although it is frequently argued that family interactions serve as a base for the establishment of interactions with peers, the nature of the processes and mechanisms by which the family and peer systems are linked have not been elucidated. More specifically, evidence of the role of family members other than the mother in children's peer interactions has been limited. The main purpose of the present research was to extend the studies of family-peer linkages to one of these neglected family members: the father. Thirty-five 7-year-old children (18 girls and 17 boys) were videotaped behind a one-way mirror in two 24-minute play sessions, one with their father, and one with an unfamiliar same-sex peer. Videotapes were scored using rating scales that assessed father individual behaviors with children, father-child dyadic interactions and children individual behaviors with peers. The results showed that some father individual behaviors were correlated with children individual social behaviors with peers. Similarly, dyadic synchrony was found to be significantly related to children's social behaviors with peers. However, the two types of measures (individual vs. dyadic) did not correlate with the same children's behaviors. Further statistical analyses showed that dyadic synchrony contributed to the prediction of children's social behavior with peers above and beyond father individual behaviors. These results suggest that both individual and dyadic measures of father-child interaction are necessary for an understanding and prediction of children's social interactions out of the family context. |
