Maternal Social Coaching Quality Interrupts the Development of Relational Aggression During Early Childhood.

Previous research has shown that parents of socially competent young children provide them with elaborative, explicit, appropriate and emotion-laden advice about peer interactions. The current study analyzed mothers' conversations with preschoolers (N=175; 52% female; age = 52 months, = 7 months) about peer conflicts involving relational aggression. Conversations were coded for maternal elaboration, emotion references, and discussion of norm violations.