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In this article, we examined young Finnish children's social relationships, characteristics of their parents' social networks and the role of parental networks in children's peer relationships. We drew on the data collected from a Finnish longitudinal study known as Steps to the Healthy Development and Well-Being of Children. The data from two measurement points were included in the analyses to explore children's peer relations at 13 months (N = 1, 212) and 4 years (N = 795). We further studied the association between children's social networks at different time points and the role of parental sociodemographics and parental social relationships in predicting children's social networks. Special emphasis was placed on examining how parental social networks are linked with children's peer relations. Our results revealed a significant association between children's social relationships at different time points and the significance of parental social networks for children's peer networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School engagement is critical to learning and long-term academic success. Feeling overwhelmed with school demands form a threat to students' engagement. We examined the roles of person-internal (academic buoyancy) and person-external (social support) factors in mediating the association between academic stress and school engagement among primary school children in Finland. A sample of 403 children aged 8–9 years participated in this study. Analysis using structural equation modeling revealed that academic stress is negatively associated with engagement. The effect of academic stress on cognitive engagement was fully mediated by academic buoyancy and social support, whereas the effect on emotional engagement was partially mediated by these. Results suggest that supporting children's ability to deal with setbacks, providing social support, and promoting a socially supportive climate could be effective for the prevention of stress and its negative association with school engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]