PREDICTING SOCIAL-ADJUSTMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD - THE ROLE OF PRESCHOOL ATTACHMENT SECURITY AND MATERNAL STYLE

Children's social and emotional adjustment at age 8 were examined in r elation to attachment security, parenting style, setting conditions, a nd social and emotional adjustment at age 4. Seventy-nine children par ticipated in videotaped interaction sessions with their mothers and wi th unfamiliar peers at the two ages. Data were derived from videotape coding, mother questionnaires, and child sociometric ratings. Results indicted that internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and soci al engagement were related at the two ages. After removing the varianc e due to the relationship between child behaviors at the two ages, a c omparison of mother-child relationship predictors indicated that attac hment security at age 4 was the strongest predictor of internalizing p roblems and social engagement/acceptance at age 8, while maternal styl e was the strongest predictor of externalizing difficulties. Results p oint to the importance of both aspects of the mother-child relationshi p, and indicate that the nature of family and peer links may vary depe nding upon the specific social domain assessed.