Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Adv Child Dev Behav. 2023;64:135-162. doi: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2022.10.007. Epub 2022 Dec 7.
Family interactions constitute a critical context in which children can learn the basic relational skills that they need to make friends. In turn, friendship quality is a robust predictor of child socioemotional functioning. Therefore, friendship is likely to act as a bridge in a socioemotional developmental cascade linking early family interactions to child subsequent socioemotional adjustment. This study aimed to examine a mediation model linking family alliance (the degree of mother-father-child engagement and coordination in joint activities) in kindergarten to anxiety and depressive symptoms in early adolescence through the mediating role of friendship quality in middle childhood. The family alliance of 87 mother-father-child triads was assessed when children were aged 6 years based on a 15-min videotaped interaction. Children reported on the quality of their relationship with their best friend at age 10 and on their anxiety and depressive symptoms at both 12 and 13 years (averaged). Results showed that children who experienced better family alliance at 6 years had higher relationship quality with their best friend at 10 years which in turn, predicted less anxiety (but not depressive) symptoms in early adolescence. There was a significant indirect effect of family alliance on anxiety through friendship quality. Findings suggest that family alliance may play a central role in shaping children's capacity to develop high-quality friendships, with implications for their subsequent socioemotional functioning. Further longitudinal studies are needed to examine the reciprocal influences unfolding over time that are likely to characterize developmental cascades among family systems, children's developing friendships, and their socioemotional functioning.
家庭互动构成了一个关键的环境，孩子可以在其中学习基本的社交技能，这些技能是他们交朋友所需要的。反过来，友谊质量是儿童社会情感功能的一个强有力的预测因素。因此，友谊很可能在社会情感发展级联中起到桥梁作用，将早期家庭互动与儿童随后的社会情感调整联系起来。本研究旨在检验一个中介模型，该模型将幼儿园时期的家庭联盟（父母与孩子在共同活动中的参与度和协调性的程度）与儿童中期的友谊质量联系起来，进而与儿童早期的焦虑和抑郁症状联系起来。在儿童 6 岁时，通过 15 分钟的录像互动评估了 87 个母子-父子三人组的家庭联盟。在 10 岁时，儿童报告了他们与最好的朋友的关系质量，在 12 岁和 13 岁时报告了他们的焦虑和抑郁症状（平均）。结果表明，6 岁时家庭联盟较好的儿童在 10 岁时与最好的朋友的关系质量较高，而这反过来又预测了他们在青春期早期的焦虑症状（但不是抑郁症状）较少。家庭联盟对友谊质量的焦虑有显著的间接影响。研究结果表明，家庭联盟可能在塑造儿童发展高质量友谊的能力方面发挥核心作用，这对他们随后的社会情感功能有影响。需要进一步的纵向研究来检验随着时间的推移展开的相互影响，这些影响可能是家庭系统、儿童正在发展的友谊以及他们的社会情感功能之间的发展级联的特征。
