Strong (But Not Too Strong) Mother-Child Relationships Predict Grade School Friendships

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 00:14 in Psychology & Sociology

Preschool children who are securely attached to their mothers form closer friendships in the early grade-school years for a number of reasons, according to a new University of Illinois study published in Child Development. Scientists have known about the link between attachment and friendship quality, but they haven't understood the reasons it exists. The study included 1,071 children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Researchers assessed mother-child attachment at age three. They also assessed how openly mothers and children acknowledged and communicated about their emotions when the child was four and a half. read more

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