Children’s Friendship, Peer Culture and Adult-Child Relations

About

SUSS Public Lecture Series 2022: 
Early Childhood Care and Education

Children’s Friendship, Peer Culture and Adult-Child Relations

My research has primarily focused on children’s peer relations and cultures, and I have less often addressed adult-child relations beyond children’s social relations with teachers. However, my research in Modena, Italy made me more aware of the importance of how children’s peer cultures are affected by the relationship of the family and community with children in preschool and elementary school institutions.

In this study, my Italian colleague, Luisa Molinari, and I conducted a longitudinal ethnography of a group of children’s transition from preschool to elementary school. We then continued to observe and follow the children throughout elementary school and on to middle school.

This research compared with earlier work in the United States captured the vital role teachers, parents, and community members play in enriching young children’s peer cultures.

Today I want to share some of these insights by comparing my experiences in Italy and the United States looking first at teachers and then consider family members and the community more generally.