A study appeared in the journal Developmental Psychology says that for a child to make friends and enjoy socializing, he/she needs to strongly bond with parents.
If a kid has a healthy relationship with his/her parent, he/she is likely will be able to adjust with a difficult peer group by affirm his/her demands. "Securely attached children are more responsive to suggestions or requests made by a new peer partner," said Nancy McElwain, professor of human development at University of Illinois in the US.
"A child who has experienced a secure attachment relationship with caregivers is likely to come into a new peer relationship with positive expectations," McElwain explained.
In the study, the researchers assessed the security of child-mother attachment relationships for 114 children for 33 months. In 39 months, children of the same gender were randomly paired with one another and observed over three laboratory visits in a one-month period.
"A more securely attached child was also likely to use suggestions and requests rather than commands and intrusive behaviour (such as grabbing toys away) during play with an anger-prone peer during the first two visits," McElwain said.
"By the final visit, a child with a secure attachment had adjusted to the controlling assertiveness of her anger-prone partner by becoming more controlling of herself," she noted.
