PEER GROUPS Chapter 5 Think back to your

PEER GROUPS Chapter 5

Think back… …to your high school days… What types of crowds did you see? To which group did you belong? The “nerds”? The “jocks”?

Peer Groups • Groups of people who are roughly the same age • Modernization has led to more age segregation • U. S. high school seniors < 15% of waking hours spent with family

The Origins of Adolescent Peer Groups in Contemporary Society Educational Origins of Adolescent Peer Groups • Age grading in public schools • Impact on social life has been staggering • Organized activities outside of school contribute to age segregation

The Adolescent Peer Culture: A Problem or a Necessity Is There a Separate Youth Culture? • In most high schools, athletic and social success are more reliable routes to popularity than is academic success • Argument: Rise in peer group power is directly linked to rise in adolescent problems

The Adolescent Peer Culture • Margaret Mead: Socialization for Adulthood – Postfigurative cultures: Culture change is slow • What youth need to know comes through contact with elders – Cofigurative cultures: Culture changes quickly • Elders knowledge may be outdated • socialization through contact with sameaged people

The Adolescent Peer Culture Margaret Mead: Socialization for Adulthood • Prefigurative cultures – Culture change is very rapid – Young people teach adults – Example: Teaching parents how to burn a CD

The Nature of Adolescent Peer Groups Changes in Peer Groups during Adolescence • There is a sharp increase during adolescence in the time spent with peers versus adults • Is there a boy/girl difference? What does this mean for boys? (see figure p. 174)

The Nature of Adolescent Peer Groups: How do they spend their time? 11

The Nature of Adolescent Peer Groups • Significant others – Nearly half are the same age as the teen • Peer groups function much more without adult supervision • Increasingly more contact with peers is with opposite-sex friends (what have we learned about exposure to the opposite sex with early maturing girls? ? )

Cliques and Crowds • Cliques are small groups defined by common activities or simply by friendship • Crowds are larger, more vaguely defined groups, based on reputation – Jocks, brains, nerds, druggies

Cliques and Crowds Changes in Clique/Crowd Structure over Time • Over the course of adolescence, the crowd structure changes • allows adolescents more freedom to change crowds, enhance status

Adolescents and their Crowds • Crowds as Reference Groups – Crowds contribute to the definition of norms and standards for such things as clothing, leisure, and tastes in music

Adolescents and their Cliques: Similarity among Clique Members Adolescents’ cliques typically are composed of people of the • same age • same race • same socioeconomic background • same sex - at least during early and middle adolescence

Adolescents and their Cliques: Common Interests among Friends Three factors in determining clique membership • Orientation toward school • Orientation toward the teen culture • Involvement in antisocial activity

Adolescents and their Cliques: Common Interests among Friends • Deviant peer groups – Aggressive adolescents gravitate toward each other – Gangs are deviant peer groups • Process of antisocial peer group formation in adolescence begins in the home during childhood – Parent-child relationships that are coercive and hostile

Adolescents and their Cliques: Common Interests among Friends • Role of family in friendship choice – Parents socialize certain traits – Predispose teens toward certain crowds – Crowds reward them for the traits that led them there in the first place – Traits are strengthened • Antisocial peers reinforce antisocial traits

Popularity and Rejection in Adolescent Peer Groups • Chief determinant of popularity during adolescence: Social skills – Act appropriate in eyes of peers – Meet needs of others – Confident but not conceited • Both boys and girls can be aggressive and popular at the same time • Aggression and poor emotion regulation creates peer problems

Popularity and Rejection in Adolescent Peer Groups • Three types of unpopular adolescents – Aggressive • fights with other students, bullies others – Withdrawn • exceedingly shy, timid, and inhibited • Victims of bullying – Aggressive. Withdrawn=combination • Hostile, but nervous about initiating friendships

Popularity and Rejection in Adolescent Peer Groups • Boys are more physically aggressive than girls • Girls also act aggressively toward peers, but often engage in relational aggression – Ruin a reputation – Disrupt a friendship

The Peer Group and Psychosocial Development • Teens with poor peer relationships are more likely to – Be low achievers in school – Drop out of high school – Have a range of learning disabilities – Show higher rates of delinquent behavior – Suffer from emotional and mental health problems as adults

The Peer Group and Psychosocial Development • In promoting normal development, peers – Provide models and feedback in regard to identity – Influence self-image – Assist the development of autonomy – Provide a context for decision-making skills – Interact in intimate and sexual relationships – Influence one another regarding achievement