Aspects of a child's social environment, in this case those connected with networks and dyadic interaction, are influenced by different maternal and child characteristics. The young child's social network is influenced by at-risk status but not by chronological age. Not only do families with handicapped infants receive more support from formal social services, but they also receive more help from their kin. Maternal responsivity is influenced by the mental age of the child. In contrast, affective responses are not linked to mental age, but are related to at-risk status. Mothers of handicapped infants exhibit less positive affect and are less responsive to their child's smiling than are mothers of nonhandicapped infants. Given this complex of findings, it might be expected that maternal behavior or network composition would influence affective development and peer-oriented interactions in the at-risk or handicapped child more than would cognitive functioning. Individual differences in maternal affect or in network composition might predict later social competency; studies are needed to investigate specific links between social and affective features of the environment and the child's later social competence. (RH)