Learning the Rules : The Anatomy of Children's Relationships

Reporting what children themselves say about their personal and social relationships, this book illuminates the personal constructions children use to order their interpersonal worlds, as well as the actual content and meaning of their relationships. In its interpretation of children's verbalized social rules with parents, siblings, peers, and teachers, the book provides a contextually informed framework from which to explore such issues as the impact of parental authority on child compliance, sibling rivalry, close friendships, and disclosure.

Brian Bigelow has been teaching child development for many years and is most noted for his research on children's friendship expectations. More recently his interests have extended to how children and adolescents order their social understandings which has given rise to research on social rules. Current activities include children's social construction of educational goals and the effects of social class on personal relationships. His parallel career as a clinical psychologist has extended to forensic issues. Dr. Bigelow currently teaches at Laurentian University in the Psychology Department and in Child and Development Studies.

Geoffrey Tesson received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 1982 and is currently Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and a member of the Centre for Research in Human Development and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Laurential University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. He has contributed chapters on socialization and development to various volumes, including K. Anderson, et al., Family Matters, J. A. Meacham, Interpersonal Relations: Family, Peers, Friends, J. Lafontant, L'Initiation thématique à la sociologie, and P. Anisef and P. Axelrod, Transitions: Schooling and Employment in Canada. He has co-authored, with Brian Bigelow and John Lewko, previous papers on the development of social rules in children and adolescents.

John H. Lewko, Ph.D., is Professor and Director of the Centre for Research in Human Development at Laurentian University. His launching of the current social rules research program has led to more recent work on mental models and decision-making related to risk perception and changes in adolescent risky behaviors.