Family factors associated with the peer social competence of young children with mild delays.

A model addressing family influences on the peer-related social competence of young children with mild developmental (cognitive) delays was developed and tested. Constructs representing child peer competence, types of parent action (arranging play for their child and socialization strategies varying in degree of control or power), parent attitudes (beliefs as to the degree their child's peer interactions could be influenced by external actions), parent stress, social support, and child risk were examined. Path analytic techniques were used to evaluate the model. Results supported the importance of family influences on the peer-related social competence of young children with mild developmental delays. With the exception of parent attitude, all theoretical constructs were retained in the analysis and significant paths followed predicted relationships.