69 Peers

Relationships within the family (parent-child and siblings) are not the only significant relationships in a child’s life. Peer relationships are also important. Social interaction with another child who is similar in age, skills, and knowledge provokes the development of many social skills that are valuable for the rest of life (Bukowski, Buhrmester, & Underwood, 2011). In peer relationships, children learn how to initiate and maintain social interactions with other children. They learn skills for managing conflict, such as turn-taking, compromise, and bargaining. Play also involves the mutual, sometimes complex, coordination of goals, actions, and understanding. For example, as preschoolers engage in pretend play they create narratives together, choose roles, and collaborate to act out their stories. Through these experiences, children develop friendships that provide additional sources of security and support to those provided by their parents.

Navigating dramatic play provides great opportunities to continue to develop social skills with same-age peers .
Figure 9.16 – Navigating dramatic play provides great opportunities to continue to develop social skills with same-age peers. Image by Seattle City Council is in the public domain

However, peer relationships can be challenging as well as supportive (Rubin, Coplan, Chen, Bowker, & McDonald, 2011). Being accepted by other children is an important source of affirmation and self-esteem, but peer rejection can foreshadow later behavior problems (especially when children are rejected due to aggressive behavior).

Peer relationships require developing very different social and emotional skills than those that emerge in parent-child relationships. They also illustrate the many ways that peer relationships influence the growth of personality and self-concept.[1]


  1. Children’s Development by Ana R. Leon is licensed under CC BY 4.0

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Child and Adolescent Developmental Psychology Copyright © by Courtney Boise is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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