PARENT'S AND FRIEND’S AS FACTORS OF CHILD’S BEHAVIOR AT SCHOOL: A COMPARISON OF MULTIPLE CORRELATIONS

Why are some children lonely, aggressive or they behaving prosocially at school? This study tends to answer the research question: how are family and peer relations associated with the social behavior of the pupils in mid childhood and early adolescence (3rd grade and 7th grade pupils), respectively. The hypotheses refer to the differences in the connections of the family and peer relations with the student’s social behavior at school. The data gathered from 194 examinees were elaborated in the research, as follows: 3rd grade pupils (85) and 7th grade pupils (109). The data from third grade pupils shows that multiple correlation between family variables in regards to loneliness is more significant (R=0.639, p<0. 01) than multiple correlation of peer variables (R=0.352, p>0. 05) which is not significant. For aggressive behavior both correlations: family (R=0.494, p<0. 05) and peer variable ( R=0.489, p<0.05) are significant. For prosocially behavior both family (R=0.434, p<0.05) and peer correlations (R=0.423, p<0.05) are almost equally significant. Shyness is not significantly associated neither with family nor with peer variables. Satisfaction from school is significantly associated with peer variables (R=0.440, p<0. 05) and with family variables (R=0.482, p<0.05) too. For the seventh grade students loneliness is significantly more influenced by family variables (R=0.617, p<0.01) than by peer variables (R=0.422, p<0.01). Aggressive behavior is more significantly related to family variables (R=0.577, p<0, 01) than peer variables. From that data the conclusion is that family variables in more cases are connected with child’s social behavior at school than peer variables, in middle childhood but and in early adolescence, too.