The beginning of friendship in childhood: mothers' perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-863X2008000300014Keywords:
Friendship, Childhood, Mothers, Interpersonal relationsAbstract
The investigation of the ontogenetic friendship origin presents conceptual and methodological difficulties. This article investigated how mothers of children between one and three years old perceived their children's first friendships. Twenty mothers between 24 and 48 years old were interviewed based on a pre-established script. Results indicate that the mothers' concept of friendship was very positive. Their children's friends network was formed by children from the family, neighborhood or religious communities. The main activity shared with friends was playing. Mothers facilitate the encounter of their children with friends or potential friends and served as mediators between socio-cultural patterns and friendships, contributing to the construction of these friendships in accordance to socio-cultural expectations. The first friendships were identified at around 18 months. It is concluded that mothers actively participated in the formation of their children's first friendships.Downloads
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Regarding the availability of contents, Paideia adopts the Creative Commons License, CC-BY. With this licence anyone is allowed to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as to remix, transform, and create from the material for any purpose, even commercial, giving the proper copyright credits to the journal, providing a link to the licence and indicating if changes have been made.
Partial reproduction of other publications
Quotations of more than 500 words, reproductions of one or more figures, tables or other illustrations must have written permission from the copyright holder of the original work for the reproduction specified in the Paidéia journal. Permission should be addressed to the author of the submitted manuscript. Secondarily obtained rights will not be transferred under any circumstance.