Ethnographic methods are used to investigate infant--toddlers relationships in an early childhood setting. The metaphorical and emotionally based concepts of holding [Winnicott, D. W. (1960). "The theory of the parent-infant relationship." "International Journal of Psychoanalysis," 41, 585-595.] and container: contained [Bion,…

Three questions are addressed: (1) Are infants as young as six months capable of interacting with a peer? (2) What type of social acts are used during these early encounters? and (3) Do toys facilitate the interactions? (Author/MP)

The Infant-Infant Contact Code, developed to observe the social behavior in infants, is described. Results from using this scale with nine infants under nine months indicated that contacts between infants are complex in nature, that there are developmental changes in models of encounter, and that babies take different roles in relation to the…

The purpose of this paper was to explore the age-segregation of U.S. children in two situations--children's spontaneous groups and adult-organized activities--and to examine the developmental changes in children's companionship between infancy and adolescence. The companionship of 400 urban children ranging in age from 1 to 12 years was determined…

This paper briefly reviews studies of infant-peer and infant-mother interaction, and describes a study which compares the effects of mothers and peers on toddler play. Twenty-six toddlers (13 males and 13 females) aged 21 to 24 months were observed in two social situations each: playing with his/her mother, and playing with a familiar peer (after…

This study was designed to identify aggressive actions in 12-, 18-, and 24-month-old infants and to investigate what type of responses these actions elicit in peers. Nine infants were observed and videotaped in interaction with each other and with toys. The focus was on four 18-month-olds observed in two sessions, one with an older child, the…

This study charts the development of social interchange patterns (reciprocity) between familiar peers and adults from written and videotaped observations of 72 children at ages 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, and 42 months. Two additional groups of eight children were observed over a 12-month interval in a parallel longitudinal design. Measures included…

Suggests that dominance can be defined as asymmetry in predictability in social variables of importance, and bidirectionality as symmetrical predictability. Procedures which address the concepts of cyclicity within a person and synchronicity between people and which assess asymmetry and symmetry in social interaction are discussed. (Author/RH)

Compared play, social, and attachment behaviors of 71 preschool children who had entered infant day care at varying ages and received varying amounts of day care. Concluded that continuous infant day care in quality centers appears to facilitate preschool social behavior and does not negatively affect attachment behavior. (NH)

Social interaction and play behavior were compared in community-based infant day care and at home for two matched groups of 18-month-old infants. Adult-infant, infant-peer, and infant-toy interaction were time-sampled. (Author/SS)

Offers a theoretical and methodological approach to study of children's socio-cognitive interaction. Observation of object-centered activities among three age groups of children showed different modes of collaboration. Processes were similar across age groups; roots of basic peer interaction patterns reach back into infancy. Similarities across…

Comments on Verba's ideas about collaboration in peer interaction in this issue. Praises Verba for setting new direction in the study and understanding of social processes in cognitive development and for establishing important continuities in how children communicate with peers. Notes that Verba's analyses suggest natural categories of…

This paper presents some background information and a brief report on the progress of the first two and one-half months of the Synanon study of the social behavior of communally-reared children in which an attempt is being made to apply ethological methods of observation and analysis to human infant behavior. The children range in age from 6 to 40…