California Preschool Learning Foundations - ECEZero2Three ...

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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children to look forward to coming to
school, to have a more positive classroom
experience, and to achieve more
as students (Ladd, Kochenderfer, and
Coleman 1996, 1997; Ladd, Birch, and
Buhs 1999).
Research on the friendships of preschool
children reveals that close
relationships between peers tend
to be stable over time; but with the
children’s increasing age, these friendships
become more reciprocal, more
exclusive (i.e., children are more likely
to exclude other children from the
activities they share with friends), and
friends become more psychologically
aware of the relationship they share
(see reviews by Gottman 1983; Parker
and Gottman 1989; Rubin and others
Friendships become characterized
by more complex play between friends
and more positive and affectionate
behavior. But, somewhat surprisingly,
there can be greater conflict between
friends than in interactions
with nonfriends.
2005; Rubin, Bukowski, and Parker
2006; Vandell, Nenide, and Van Winkle
2006). Friendships become characterized
by more complex play between
friends and more positive and affectionate
behavior. But, somewhat surprisingly,
there can be greater conflict
between friends than in interactions
with nonfriends. The greater incidence
of conflict may derive both from the
greater frequency of friendship interaction
and the greater emotional investment
in these interactions. However,
toward the end of the preschool years,
friends are more likely to negotiate
with each other, to disengage from
disagreements before conflict worsens,
and to find other ways of maintaining
their friendship beyond the disagreement
(Gottman 1983; Hartup 1996;
Howes, Droege, and Matheson 1994;
Parker and Gottman 1989). In these
ways, then, broader features of developing
social and emotional competences
in early childhood contribute
to the maintenance of friendship in
older preschoolers and their greater
endurance over time.
Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1 • California Department of Education