Cooperation and preference by peers in early childhood: A longitudinal study. Issue 3 (21st January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Endedijk, Hinke M.; Cillessen, Antonius H. N.; Bekkering, Harold; Hunnius, Sabine
• Is Part Of: Social development. Volume 29:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 854
• Page End: 870
• Publication Date: 2020-01-21
• Subjects: action coordination -- cooperation -- early childhood -- interaction quality -- longitudinal -- peer preference; Child development -- Periodicals; Socialization -- Periodicals; 305.0791
• DOI: 10.1111/sode.12437
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0961-205X

Abstract

Abstract: Children who are more proficient in cooperation with peers tend to be more preferred. To date, the development of peer cooperation has been studied mainly in two research traditions, one focusing on action coordination and the other focusing on interaction quality. Both aspects of cooperation are relevant for children's peer relations, but it is unclear whether both aspects of children's earliest cooperation skills predict their later preference by peers after the transition into organized social groups in school. In this study, we assessed coordination proficiency and interaction quality of 181 Dutch children longitudinally from 2 to 4 years of age. No relation between early action coordination and later preference by peers at school was found. However, especially in girls more affiliative and fewer antagonistic behaviors at the age of two predicted likeability among classmates at school at the age of four. The findings shine new light on the earliest foundations of children's peer evaluations.