Strong parental bonds make kids smart

Sharing a strong bond with your kids is vital for them to socialise, make friends and enjoy positive, close relationships with others, a study shows.

If a kid has strong bonds with his/her parents the child is likely to be a positive, responsive playmate and he/she will be able to adapt to a difficult peer group by asserting his/her needs, the findings showed.

"Securely attached children are more responsive to suggestions or requests made by a new peer partner," said Nancy McElwain, professor of human development at University of Illinois in the US.

"A child who has experienced a secure attachment relationship with caregivers is likely to come into a new peer relationship with positive expectations," McElwain explained.

In the study, the researchers assessed the security of child-mother attachment relationships for 114 children at 33 months.

At 39 months, children of the same gender were randomly paired with one another and observed over three laboratory visits in a one-month period.

"A more securely attached child was also likely to use suggestions and requests rather than commands and intrusive behaviour (such as grabbing toys away) during play with an anger-prone peer during the first two visits," McElwain said.

"By the final visit, a child with a secure attachment had adjusted to the controlling assertiveness of her anger-prone partner by becoming more controlling of herself," she noted.

The study appeared in the journal Developmental Psychology.