Advances in Child–Parent Attachment and Children's Peer Relations

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Pediatric Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2025 | Viewed by 109

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Interests: developmental psychopathology; attachment and moral development in preschool and school years; post-traumatic disorders
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Interests: clinical psychology; neuroscience; substance use disorder; mood disorders; neurobiology; stress; blood biomarkers; psychopathology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Attachment theory highlights the importance for children’s socio-emotional development of the provision of a safe haven by their caregivers. 

In the process of child development, internal working models guide children in the construction of their relational world with their past experiences as the base. These models, stemming from the quality of early attachment relationships, are frameworks or internal maps in which the relationship with other significant individuals is constructed and represented. Therefore, a relationship between parental attachment and the quality of peer relationships during infancy and adolescence is both theoretically evident and long stated in research, since an individual’s security and trust toward others in later life stages are molded by attachment regarding the emotional availability of caregivers.

Developmental psychology and psychopathology inquire about which domains of later behavior these expectations and beliefs about these self and others should predict.

Thus, the main objective of contributions to this Special Issue will be to shed light on (1) the characteristics and determinants of child’s parent-attachment and peer relations, and the (2) effects of child’s parent-attachment and peer relations on normative and psychopathological development, as well as physical and mental health.

Original scientific articles illustrating and discussing theoretical, methodological and empirical data on these topics are welcome.

Dr. Giampaolo Nicolais
Dr. Valeria Carola
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • peers
  • children
  • parenting
  • attachment theory
  • attachment style
  • developmental psychology
  • adolescents
  • internal working models
  • mother
  • father

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
Back to TopTop