This study examines the development of communication and social inference in terms of the child's immediate social environment, the child's role systems, and the standards of interpersonal relationships. Middle-class mothers and fathers of first, third, and fifth graders were asked what they say to their children in several common situations in which there is an obvious need for a parent to regulate a child's behavior. They were asked such questions as, what would you say if your child (1) refused to go to school and you knew there was nothing wrong, (2) took something off the shelf of a supermarket without paying for it, (3) picked flowers from a neighbor's garden, or (4) refused to go to bed long after bed time in order to watch something on T.V. Results show that on each of the communication measures, children of predominantly person-oriented parents were more effective communicators than children of predominantly position-oriented parents. The differences in communicative effectiveness, as measured, reflected differences in the children's ability to coordinate listener-speaker perspectives. (SW)