Better Social Skills During Teenage Linked to Early Mother-Child Bonding

Teens who live in communities with dependable, involved adults can still develop vital social skills not fostered in their early years. Early mother-child bonding is linked to social skills in teens, including good behavior that enhances connections with others, strong academic performance and emotional self-management. What transpires, though, if the connection does not happen? Adolescents can benefit from social cohesiveness, or the relationships and trust between neighbors, according to experts.

The study concentrated on the development of social skills in 15-year-olds due to early connection between mothers, who are primary caregivers, and their 3-year-old children and neighborhood social cohesion.

The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a nationally representative study of children born in 20 U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000, included data on 1,883 children aged 1, 3, and 15 years old.

Gauging Social Skills in Teens

To determine the children's attachment, the current study posed 39 questions, including “is quickly comforted by contact or interaction with mother while weeping or otherwise upset.” Greater security in the child's attachment to the mother was indicated by a higher score.

The 15-year-old participants had to answer behavioral questions to gauge their adolescent social abilities. The study found a positive correlation between high child attachment scores and improved teen social skills.

When a child is three years old, some characteristics that indicate intimacy include “giving embraces or cuddles to the mother without being requested to do so,” “responding favorably to helpful ideas from mother," and "when a mother says follow, child does so cheerfully.” Increased adolescent social skills were positively connected with high scores in neighborhood social cohesion at age 3. The research also showed that neighbors had a significant impact on children's social skills when the mother-child attachment was weak.

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“Children who live in neighborhoods with a high degree of social cohesion may have more opportunities to engage within their community and interact with other trusted adults, as well as form friendships with children,” said study lead author Sunghyun Hong, a doctoral student of social work and psychology.

For children with insecure attachments to their caregivers, social cohesiveness may have a buffering effect on social skills because of these relationships with other sources of support.

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“This underscores the value of children having access to supportive and loving relationships with the mother and the surrounding community, even from early childhood. The data was collected in the late 90s to early 20s, in which mothers were frequently the primary caregivers. However, in recent decades, the definition of primary caregivers has been expanding with families having diverse forms, including more fathers who are engaged in co-parenting and are the sole primary caregiver. Thus, if the research involved father, the study's results would be similar,” Hong said.

“The findings show that living in a neighborhood with high social cohesion is as important as having high attachment security to the mother. This means that when we think about policies and programs to empower our children in the community, we must consider directly supporting the family relations and investing in their surrounding community relations,” Hong said.

Source-Medindia