Nature and determinants of preschoolers' differential behaviour to adults and peers

The extent to which 42-months and 50-months-old preschool children interacted with adults in school was not related to how much they interacted with peers. Ways in which interactions with adults differed from those with peers are documented. These differences are likely to have differential effects on personality development. In turn, their roots may be found in the personalities of the children on arrival at school, and thus probably in the home background. Here sex and sibling status differences are explored. Boys oriented more towards peers than girls, whilst girls and firstborns tended to interact with adults more than did boys or second-borns.