SOCIAL INTERACTIONS IN THE HOME AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG CHILDRENS CONCEPTIONS OF THE PERSONAL

Observations and interviews of 20 middle-class 3- and 4-year-olds and their mothers were conducted to examine the emergence of the personal domain. Interviews with children showed that 3- and 8-year-olds make a conceptual distinction between personal, and moral or conventional is sues. Interviews with mothers indicated that they viewed it as importa nt for young children to have freedom of choice over personal issues t o develop a sense of autonomy and individuality. Observations in the h ome revealed that mothers tended to give direct social messages to chi ldren about moral, conventional, and prudential events, and were more likely to give indirect social messages in the form of offered choices to children in response to personal issues. Mothers were more likely to negotiate with children over personal than other social events. The se data revealed a pattern of social interactions concordant with even t domain, which included a reciprocal system along the border between the personal and the conventional.