Preschoolers' Competence with a Peer: Relations with Attachment and Peer Experience

Abstract

LIEBERMAN, ALICIA F. Preschoolers' Competence with a Peer: Relations with Attachment and Peer Experience. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 1277-1287. 40 3-year-olds participated in a short-term longitudinal study assessing the relationship between peer competence and 2 antecedent variables, the security of the attachment relationship with the mother and the amount of experience with peers. Security of attachment was assessed through a home visit, the laboratorybased strange situation,and a standardized maternal-attitude scale. The mother's report was used to estimate amount of experience with peers. Peer competence was assessed from the subjects' behavior in a familiar laboratory playroom with an unfamiliar same-age, same-sex playmate. Security of attachment as assessed at home was highly positively correlated with peer experience. Partial correlations showed that security of attachment was correlated only with nonverbal measures of peer competence, whereas peer experience was correlated only with verbal measures. It was concluded that security of attachment and peer experience were related to different aspects of peer competence. A separate analysis showed that maternal attitudes toward the child's expression of aggression and freedom to explore were significantly correlated with the measures of peer competence.