Child-parent relationships and components of social confidence in primary school children

Abstract

The article presents a theoretical and empirical study of child-parent relationships primarily focused on the emotional reciprocity of the subjects of interaction as well as its connection with the level of social confidence in primary school children. Based on modern scientific findings, 10 main features of child-parent relationships can be identified. The authors analyze four components of social confidence: communicative, emotional, personal, and self-esteem. The empirical part of the paper presents the results of a study on child-parent relationships both from the point of view of the child and of the parents. The outcomes substantiate the idea that primary school children have a strong need for constant maternal and paternal contact and for parental care, and also suggest that the level of attachment to the father is higher than average in the whole group. The study of the communicative component of social confidence showed that the majority of children in the group are able to successfully interact with others and to build social connections. When analyzing the emotional component of social confidence, the authors found that children are characterized by self-confidence, calmness, an average level of anxiety, and rare manifestations of irritability. The authors establish the connections between a child-parent relationship and the components of social confidence. The relationship between a child and their mother and father correlates directly with a number of components of the child’s social confidence, and there is an inverse correlation between the relationship and the feelings of isolation and anxiety. The relationship with the teacher positively correlates with the relationship with both mother and father. The relationship with the father is particularly important for children of primary school age, as is helps to increase the level of social confidence. A positive correlation was found between the “Cooperation” indicator and the level of self-affirmation; the indicator of parental control correlates directly with the indicator of the level of responsibility and inversely with the levels of self-affirmation and nervous tension.