Parent contributions to friendship stability during the primary school years.

The present study examines whether characteristics of parents predict the stability of a child's best friendships across the primary school years.Participants included 1,523 Finnish children (766 boys, 757 girls) who reported involvement in a total of 1,326 reciprocated friendship dyads in the 1 st grade (M=7.16 years old).At the onset of the study, mothers and fathers completed questionnaires describing their own parenting (i.e.behavioral control, psychological control, and affection toward the child) and depressive symptoms.Child scores for peer status (i.e.acceptance and rejection) were derived from 1 st grade peer nomination data.Discrete-time survival analyses predicted the occurrence and timing of friendship dissolution, across grades 2 to 6, for friendships that began in grade 1. Parent depression and parent psychological control uniquely predicted subsequent child friendship dissolution, above and beyond the contribution of peer status variables.