Relationships, Development of

The development of relationships with significant others is one of the most important tasks that an individual encounters in his or her lifetime. Relationships, according to Robert Hinde, are ongoing patterns of interaction between two individuals who acknowledge some connection with each other. In the case of children and adolescents, the social partners with whom interaction is most frequently experienced include parents, peers, and teachers. From Hinde's perspective, individuals bring to social exchanges reasonably stable social orientations (temperament; personality) that dispose them to be more or less sociable and a repertoire of social skills for understanding the thoughts, emotions, and intentions of others and for interpersonal problem solving. Over the short term, a child's or adolescent's interactions with others will vary in form and function in response to fluctuations in the parameters of the social situation, such as the parent's or peer's characteristics, overtures, and responses. Often, social interactions are embedded in longer term relationships and thus are influenced by past and anticipated future interactions. For example, the nature of any given relationship is defined partly by the characteristics of its members and by its constituent interactions. Over the long term, the kind of relationship that any two individuals form with one another depends largely on the history of their interactions and relationships, not only with each other but also [Page 647]with other members of their personal social community. Consequently, the first dyadic relationships that children experience are embedded within a group—the family. Significantly, families help define the type and range of relationships and interactions that are likely or permissible.

Many theories of human development (e.g., Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson) suggest that relationships with others are important to healthy social and emotional development. This entry reviews the development of relationships with caregivers or parents, peers, friends, and romantic partners. The central argument presented herein is that the earliest relationships children form with their primary caregivers help shape the formation of internalized, mental representations of relationships, which, in turn, subsequently affect the development of other significant relationships.