This study examined how parents' engagement and affect during parent-child interaction related to children's ability to successfully interact with peers. Subjects were 56 families, each with a child between the ages of 4 and 6. Ten-minute interactions were videotaped as parents obtained information about a story previously heard by the child, and taught the child to play a video game. An assessment of children's interaction with their best friend (as identified by the mother) was obtained by audiotaping a 30-minute dyadic peer play session at the homes of the target children. Parenting styles and children's peer play with their best friend were coded. Analysis revealed that fathers' behavior affected how children engaged with others during play. Children of intrusive fathers more often expressed affect when interacting with peers; children of intrusive mothers expressed less positive affect during peer play. Results suggest that children may compensate for some negative parent-child interaction by making attempts to secure positive peer interaction with their best friends. No significant differences between the amount of affect or engagement displayed by either parents towards boys or girls were found. However, correlations indicated that fathers' affect related to boys' peer interaction skills, while mothers' negative affects and engagement appeared to be linked to girls' peer play. (MM)