Chapter 11
Things to think about before reading this Chapter
- How does the nature of friendship change across childhood and adolescence?
- In what ways do the seven major theories of peer relationships reflect aspects of dynamic systems theories presented in Chapter 1?
- What are the major methodological challenges faced when developmental scientists study peer relationships empirically?
- How does cognitive development during childhood relate to the development of peer relations during childhood?
- During childhood and adolescence, how are girls’ friendships different from boys’ friendships? How are they similar?
- In what ways do individual traits or ability influence the quality of children’s peer relationships?
- How are parental relationships related to children’s peer relationships?
- How does culture influence the nature of children’s peer relationships?
Chapter Outline
PEER RELATIONSHIPS IN CHILDHOOD
Introduction
Theoretical Perspectives on Peer Relationships Research
The Developmental Course of Peer Interaction
Infancy and the Toddler Period
The Preschool Years
Social participation
Other early developmental differences
Development beyond the Preschool Period
Children and their Friends
Functions of Friendship
Children’s Conceptions of Friendship
The Prevalence and Stability of Friendship
Similarities between Friends
Behaviors between Friends
Gender-Related Issues
Children without Friends
Friendship and Adjustment
Friendship and shy/withdrawn children
Friendship and externalizing children
Summary
Children’s Groups
The Peer Group as a Social Context
Peer Group Functions
Cliques and Crowds
Methodological Issues in the Study of Peer Groups
Assessing peer groups
Examining the contextual effect of the peer group
Summary
Peer Acceptance, Rejection, and Perceived Popularity
Assessing the Quality of Children’s Peer Relationships
Assessments of Peer Acceptance
Assessment of Child Behaviors
Peer assessments of social behavior
Teacher assessments of social behavior
Behavioral observations of social behavior
Correlates and Determinants of Peer Acceptance
Behavioral Correlates of Peer Acceptance
Social Cognitive Correlates of Peer Acceptance
Cognitions and Feelings about the Self and Peer Acceptance
Outcomes of Peer Relationships Difficulties
Peer Rejection and Externalizing Problems
Peer Rejection and Internalizing Problems
Summary
Origins of Children’s Peer Relationships and Social Skills
Temperament and Peer Relationships
Parenting and Peer Relationships
Parenting Behaviors and Peer Relationships
Culture and Peer Relationships
Conclusions
Suggested Readings
Brownell, C. A., Ramani, G. B., & Zerwas, S. (2006). Becoming a social partner with peers: Cooperation and social understanding in one- and two-year-olds. Child Development, 77, 803–821.
Chen, X., Chang, L., Liu, H., & He, Y. (2008). Effects of the peer group on the development of social functioning and academic achievement: A longitudinal study in Chinese children. Child Development, 79, 235–251.
Cillessen, A. H. N., & Mayeux, L. (2004). From censure to reinforcement: Developmental changes in the association between aggression and social status. Child Development, 75, 147–163.
Coie, J. D., & Kupersmidt, J. (1983). A behavioral analysis of emerging social status in boys’ groups. Child Development, 54, 1400–1416.
Furman, W., Simon, V., Shaffer, L., & Bouchey, H. A. (2002). Adolescents’ working models and styles for relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners. Child Development, 73, 241–255.
Haselager, G. J. T., Hartup, W. M., van Lieshout, C. F. M., & Riksen-Walraven, J. M. (1998). Similarities between friends and nonfriends in middle childhood. Child Development, 69(4), 1198–1208.
Hinde, R. A. (1987). Individuals, relationships and culture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Hodges, E. V. E., Boivin, M., Vitaro, F., & Bukowksi, W. M. (1999). The power of friendship protection against an escalating cycle of peer victimization. Developmental Psychology, 35(1), 94–101.
Krasnor, L., & Rubin, K. H. (1983). Preschool social problem solving: Attempts and outcomes in naturalistic interaction. Child Development, 54, 1545–1558.
Ladd, G. W., & Troop-Gordon, W. (2003). The role of chronic peer difficulties in the development of children’s psychological adjustment problems. Child Development, 74, 1344–1367.
Laursen, B., Bukowski, W., Aunola, K., & Nurmi, J. (2007). Friendship moderates prospective associations between social isolation and adjustment problems in young children. Child Development, 78, 1395–1404.
London, B., Downey, G., Bonica, C., & Paltin, I. (2007). Social causes and consequences of rejection sensitivity. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 17, 481–506.
Parker, J. G. & Seal, J. (1996). Forming, losing, renewing, and replacing friendships: Applying temporal parameters to the assessment of children’s friendship experiences. Child Development, 67, 2248–2268.
Rose, A. J., Carlson, W., & Waller, E. M. (2007). Prospective associations of co-rumination with friendship and emotional adjustment: Considering the socioemotional trade-offs of co-rumination. Developmental Psychology, 43(4), 1019–1031.
Rubin, K. H., Coplan, R. J., & Bowker, J. C. (2009). Social withdrawal in childhood. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 141–171.
Rubin, K. H., Watson, K., & Jambor, T. (1978). Free play behaviors in preschool and kindergarten children. Child Development, 49, 534–536.
Salmivalli, C. & Isaacs, J. (2005). Prospective relations among victimization, rejection, friendlessness, and children’s self- and peer-perceptions. Child Development, 76(6), 1161–1171.
Simpkins, S., & Parke, R. (2002). Do friends and nonfriends behave differently? A social relations analysis of children’s behavior. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 48, 263–283.
Strayer, F. F. & Santos, A. J. (1996). Affiliative structures in preschool peer groups. Social Development, 5, 117–130.
Wentzel, K. R., & Asher, S. R. (1995). The academic lives of neglected, rejected, popular, and controversial children. Child Development, 66, 754–763.
Glossary
Aggression: High levels of relational aggression (e.g., threatening friendship withdrawal) within the friendship, and high levels of exclusivity, jealously, and intimacy, characterize the friendships of relationally aggressive children. In contrast, overtly aggressive children direct their overt aggression outside their friendship dyads, and report low levels of intimacy (Grotpeter & Crick, 1996).
Conflict: Interpersonal interactions characterized by quarreling, active hostility (assaults and threats) and reactive hostility (refusals and resistance) among individuals.
Co-rumination: Intimate self-disclosure characterized by dwelling on emotionally charged and intimate everyday occurrences and feelings in negative ways.
Cultural influence: The impact of cultural norms and values in defining the “meanings” of social behaviors that affect group and individual beliefs, attitudes, and value systems.
Emotion regulation: The management of emotions to accomplish one’s goals.
Externalizing problems: Behavioral difficulties in adolescence such as delinquency, conduct disorder, attentional difficulties, and substance abuse associated with peer rejection in childhood.
Friendships: Close, mutual, and voluntary dyadic relationships characterized by reciprocity and a feeling of perceived equality between individuals that provide children with support, security, intimacy, affection, and both instrumental and informational assistance. Outcomes of friendships include consensual validation of interests, hopes, and fears, the creation of prototypes for later romantic, marital, and parental relationships, and growth in interpersonal sensitivity.
Internalizing problems: Behavioral and emotional problems across the lifespan such as low self-esteem, anxiety problems, loneliness, and depressive symptoms that are associated with peer rejection in childhood.
Peer acceptance: The experience of being liked and accepted by peers.
Peer rejection: The experience of being disliked and not accepted by peers.
Peers: Similar-age individuals with whom children socialize.
Perceived popularity: The degree to which children are regarded as are “popular,” cool, central, or highly visible by their peers.
Perceived social competence: An awareness of one’s own peer acceptance or social skillfulness; children with higher perceived social competence tend to be more popular with peers.
Rejection sensitivity: The tendency to defensively expect, readily perceive, and overreact to peer rejection.
Social information-processing: Rubin and Rose-Krasnor’s model of interpersonal problem-solving in which children sequentially select a social goal, examine the task environment, access and implement a chosen strategy, and then evaluate the outcome relative to the initial social goal.
Social participation: Parten’s description of six developmentally sequential categories of social interactions, including unoccupied behavior, solitary play, onlooker behavior, parallel play, associative play, and cooperative play.
Social skills: Behaviors and abilities that promote successful initiation and maintenance of social interactions.
Sociometric popularity: Method of categorizing children into status groups based on the number of positive (“like”) and negative (“dislike”) nominations received from peers.
Temperament: The biological basis of the affective arousal, expression, and regulatory components of personality that contribute to a wide range of developmental outcomes, including individual personality characteristics.