Peer relations

Peer relationships in early childhood are essential to concurrent and future psychosocial adjustment. Experienced through group activities or one-on-one friendships, they play an important role in children’s development, helping them to master new social skills and become acquainted with the social norms and processes involved in interpersonal relationships. This topic is of particular interest nowadays since a growing number of children are exposed to peers even before school age through daycare, and because most children interact with siblings who are about their age in the family context.

By age four at the latest, most children are able to have best friends and know which peers they like or dislike. However, between 5% and 10% of children experience chronic peer relationship difficulties, such as rejection and harassment. Early problems with peers can have a negative impact on the child’s later social and emotional development. Nevertheless, interventions targeting such difficulties seem to be especially effective when they are undertaken early in life.

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• What do we know?
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• According to experts