Das soziale unterstützungsnetzwerk von kindern: Strukturelle merkmale, grad der unterstützung, konflikt und beziehungen zum selbstwertgefühl

The social network of 186 12-year old children (participating in the LOGIC-study, Weinert & Schneider, 1986) was studied. Children were asked to mention all the persons who are important to them, and to rate these persons on dimensions of perceived social support and conflict. In a telephone interview, parents were also asked to mention the persons important to their child, and to estimate the time their child spent with these persons. Parents tended to underestimate the number of friends in their child's social network. The larger the discrepancy, the lower the parent is rated by the child on perceived social support. For perceived social support, mothers and fathers were the highest providers, followed by peers and siblings. The largest amount of conflict was reported with siblings, followed by peers, and then by both parents. Perceived support tended to co-occur within the family, but less so between family and peer group. Structural features of the network were not related to children's self-worth. Low support from mother, father, and peers was related to low self-worth, and children with low parental support and low peer support seem to be double at risk. These results illustrate the importance of social relationships for children, and the advantages of studying these relationships within a social network approach.