Explaining children’s social relationships in early childhood: the role of parental social networks

Figures & data

Table 1. Comparison of the characteristics of dropouts and study participants.

Variables		Dropouts	Study participants	p
Child	Gender: boys, %	48.9	51.1	.226
	Peer contacts at 13 months, mean	2.68	2.63	.423
Mother	Social network: extent, mean	3.29	3.26	.870
	Social network: activity, mean	2.72	2.78	.669
	Social network: experience, mean	4.44	4.38	.571
	Occupation: at least professional, %	64.1	67.1	.638
	Education: at least tertiary degree, %	61.9	67.7	.117
Father/partner	Social network: extent, mean	3.21	3.00	.061
	Social network: activity, mean	2.37	2.20	.142
	Social network: experience, mean	4.46	4.39	.331
	Occupation: at least professional, %	58.6	61.3	.427
	Education: at least tertiary degree, %	47.1	49.7	.403

Table 2. Frequency of social contact at 4 years according to gender, parental socioeconomic status (SES) and parental education (%).

Grouping variable (n)		Daily or almost daily	Weekly	Sometimes (monthly)	Seldom or never
Gender	Male (418)	77.0	6.9	14.8	1.2
	Female (377)	74.3	4.8	20.4	0.5
Family SES^a	High (564)	77.1	4.8	17.2	0.9
	Low (185)	71.4	9.7	18.4	0.5
Family education^b	High (580)	76.9	4.5	17.9	0.7
	Low (204)	73.0	10.3	15.7	1.0
Total		75.7	5.9	17.5	0.9

Note: ^aClassification: Professionals = high (in high positions, e.g. managerial, but also in intermediate positions, such as nurses) vs others = low [blue-collar workers (in industry or agriculture) and service (e.g. clerical and sales workers)].

^b Low = lowest college-level education, High = highest college-level education.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for children’s social contacts, number of good friends and parents’ social relationships.

	n	scale	Mean	SD
Child:
Social contacts at 13 months	1209	0–8	4.59	2.17
Social contacts at 4 years	795	0–8	6.75	1.63
Number of good friends at home (4 years)	793	1–5	2.41	0.98
Number of good friends in ECE^a (4 years)	595	1–5	3.02	0.85
Mother
Social network: extent	794	1–5	3.20*	1.21
Social network: activity	791	1–5	2.73**	1.07
Social network: experience	794	1–5	4.41^ns	0.74
Father/Partner
Social network: extent	618	1–5	2.97	1.19
Social network: activity	613	1–5	2.24	1.00
Social network: experience	618	1–5	4.38	0.76

Note: ^aEarly childhood education, ECE; **p < .01, *p < .05.

Table 4. Bivariate correlations between predictor variables and children’s social relationship outcomes at 4 years.

	Extent of social network		Number of good friends at home		Number of good friends in ECE^a
	n	r	n	r	n	r
Child:
Gender	795	−.05	793	.02	595	.04
Extent of social network at 13 months	793	.28***	791	.06	593	.08*
Mother
Occupational status	700	.10*	699	.08*	473	−.01
Education	773	.08*	771	.02	577	−.01
Social network: extent	729	.17***	729	.24***	542	.18***
Social network: activity	727	.11**	727	.18***	539	.06
Social network: experience	730	.05	730	.08*	542	.10*
Father/Partner:
Occupational status	633	.09*	634	.05	473	.07
Education	752	.13**	750	.02	562	.03
Social network: extent	522	.01	520	.19***	376	.06
Social network: activity	518	.04	516	.15***	374	.05
Social network: experience	522	.02	520	.15**	376	.07

Note: ^aEarly childhood education, ECE; ***p < .001, **p < .01, * p < .05.

Table 5. Multiple linear regression of explanatory variables on children’s peer relations at 4 years (standardised coefficients).

	Social network (n = 510)		Good friends at home (n = 439)		Good friends in ECE^a (n = 537)
	β	p	β	p	β	p
Child
Social network at 13 months	.328	<.001	–	–	.079	ns^b
Mother
Occupational status	.073	ns	.070	ns	–	–
Education	.015	ns	–	–	–	–
Social network: extent	.062	ns	.167	<.01	.191	<.001
Social network: activity	.027	ns	.052	ns	−.045	ns
Social network: experience	−.057	ns	−.004	ns	.073	ns
Father/Partner
Occupational status	.029	ns	–	–	–	–
Education	.042	ns	–	–	–	–
Social network: extent	–	–	.141	<.05	–	–
Social network: activity	–	–	.044	ns	–	–
Social network: experience	–	–	.068	ns	–	–
Adjusted R^2	.11		.09		.04

Note: ^aEarly childhood education, ECE; ^bns = not significant.