Implicarea parentală în dezvoltarea prieteniilor la copii, ca mediator între inteligența emoțională parentală și relațiile de prietenie ale copiilor [Parental Involvement in Friendship Development in Children, as a Mediator between Parental Emotional Intelligence and Children’s Friendship Relationships]

Parental social practices play a decisive role in children’s social network formation and in friendship development in children. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mediator role of parental involvement in the development of friendships in children, in the relationship between parental emotional intelligence and the frequency of children’s meetings with friends or the number of friends, the latter being both endogenous variables. The moderator variable was the type of children, with or without disabilities. The participants in this research were 295 parents, who responded to questionnaires administered online, individually, about their or their children’s personal psychological or behavioral characteristics. The results indicated that parental involvement, in the development of friendships in children, totally mediates the relation between parental emotional intelligence and the number of friends children have or the frequency of meetings between friends. These results have implications regarding the training of parents to help the development of friendship in children with or without disabilities.


Keywords: children’s friendships, disabled children, emotional intelligence, parental involvement