ABSTRACT
Two themes in Hartup’s research and writing stand out for me as especially generative and important for developmental psychologists. The first theme is at a very general, theoretical level. His writing on the conceptual issues involved in thinking about the links between relationships and children’s development has a key and distinctive place in the field (e.g., Hartup, 1983, 1992, 1996). For much too long there has been a real separation between those who study the nature of relationships and those who are interested in children’s developing cognitive and social capacities. Hartup has consistently presented a coherent framework within which the connections between relationships, cognitive and socioemotional development, and children’s well-being can be thought about and studied, and has given us the key questions that need to be asked. The second theme of major importance for developmentalists is his focus on childchild interaction and relationships-most recently his work on friendships (e.g., Hartup, 1996). His emphasis on individual differences in friendship quality, for instance, is surely timely. The demonstration that it is not so much whether you have a friend, but the kind of friendship you have that matters, in terms of developmental influence, is just one of a series of important insights that deserve our attention.
