Peer Relationships During Adolescence PSY 226 Child and

Peer Relationships During Adolescence PSY 226: Child and Adolescent Development

Peer Relationships During Adolescence l An adolescent’s success among peers is paramount – Increased frequencies in peer interactions – Increased motivation to establish a stable identity – Greater reliance on peer feedback l What is my peer status? Reputation? Perceived identity?

Questions and Learning Objectives 1. How do we define/assess peer relationships? 2. How do adolescent peer relationships form and, once established, how stable are they? 3. What characteristics do peers influence? 4. How do peers influence one another? 5. Do peers with whom adolescents have no direct relationship matter?

Overview of Assessment Strategies: Friendships Friendship Nominations: Dyadic Affiliations Non-Reciprocal vs. Reciprocal Friends Lindsay Jenelle

Overview of Assessment Strategies: Friendships What’s the Nature of the Relationship? Friends Best Friend(s)

Overview of Assessment Strategies: Friendships What’s the Quality of the Relationship? Sharing and Reciprocity Intimacy Loyalty Time and Activities

Overview of Assessment Strategies: Friendships History and Stability of the Relationship? New Friends? Old Friends?

Overview of Assessment Strategies: Social Networks (Clique) Affiliations Beyond the Level of the Dyad A Sociogram of Relationships Among 10 th Gd. Cheerleaders

Overview of Assessment Strategies: Social Networks Features of The Social Network 1. Average characteristics of the network’s social behavior 2. Status/salience of the individual in the network Nuclear – Secondary - Peripheral 3. Status/salience of the network among other networks Nuclear – Secondary – Peripheral

Overview of Assessment Strategies: Crowds Reputation-based “belonging” to a social group with assumed characteristics. Jocks – Preps – Princesses – Burnouts & Druggies – Tough/Cools -- Nerds/Geeks Individuals need not actually affiliate to be members of the same crowd.

Basic Features of Friendships Why don’t people talk to each other in elevators? Propinquity! “Nearness” Relationships are unlikely to form unless there is a presumption for continued meetings (i. e. , recurrent nearness).

Basic Features of Friendships Do Opposites Really Attract? Not Usually Homophily: The tendency for individuals to affiliate with persons who are like themselves. Two inter-related processes: Bi-selection AND Reciprocal Socialization Kandel (1978)

Changes in Homophily l Surface features – l Early childhood: Gender, Age, Race/Ethnicity, Physical Characteristics (size) Deeper psychological features – – Middle childhood (8 -10): Behaviors/Competencies, Interests, Adherence to Peer Norms Adolescence: Loyalty, Understanding, Acceptance of Strengths/Weaknesses, Intimacy and Sharing

Changes in the Meaning of Friendships (Bigelow, 1977) Reward-cost stage (ages 7 -8): Friends are rewarding to be with, non-friends are difficult, not “fun” to be with or uninteresting. Live nearby, have interesting possessions, play together Normative stage (10 -11): shared values, norms, and rules; sticking up for one another; loyalty. Interviewer: “What’s important in a friend? ” Adelaide (Age 10): “I think that they’re nice, um, they’s – they keep your, you keep your friends a long time. Ah, (tongue-click) some friends are just, you know, mean and they go tell other people. But these friends, friends that are friends to you, don’t do stuff. ”

Changes in the Meaning of Friendships (Bigelow, 1977) Empathetic stage (12 -13 and beyond): greater similarity in specific interests and activities, understanding, intimacy, trust, and self-disclosure. Interviewer: “What’s important in a friend? ” Adelaide (Age 15): “(tongue-click) Uh, being able to be there when you need help or so – and um, care for you and not go out and tell everybody, you know, everything like “Hey, hey, this!” you know. If you’ve got a secret or something, you know…somethin’ bothers you, and you don’t want to tell everybody else, you know. I want ‘em to keep it, you know, between me and them or so. ”

Benefits of Having a Friend Chronic Friendlessness • Timidity, Poor Social Skills, Anxiety, Depression (Ladd & Troop-Gordon, 2003; Parker & Seal, 1996) Lower Victimization • Being friendless over a school year is a risk (Hodges; Wojslowowicz)

Characteristics: Best Friends Best friends vs. other friends: l Greater Similarity l Greater Stability l Higher Quality More positive affect, mutual liking, perceived closeness More equality and loyalty

Stability (Fragility? ) of Peer Relationships “One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible. ” - Henry Adams (1918)

In-Class Project: How Stable Were Your Early Friendships? 1. Who was your best friend in the 4 th grade? 2. Was this person still your best friend in 5 th grade, 6 th grade, 7 th grade, etc. . go to 11 th grade? 3. Why did the friendship last or not last? 4. If you had a new best friend after the 4 th grade, did that relationship last longer? Why or why not?

(In)Stability of Best Friendships: From 4 th Grade to 11 th Grade Note: Boys (dark line) Girls (light line) After 1 Year Only 20% of Best Friends Remained Best Friends Source: Cairns & Cairns (1994)

Reasons why best friendships dissolve (Hartman et al. ) Lack of propinquity 33% Interests changed 23% Bad personality 21% Replaced by other 21% Too much conflict 13% Forced by 3 rd party 10% Violated trust 10%

Stability of Best Friendships Increases Across Development

How can friendships influence social development if they are fickle? The faces change but the behaviors are similar… Correlations between early adolescents’ old and new friends over 1 -year: Social Activity Sports Activity . 79*. 73* Cigarette Use Alcohol Use Minor Delinquency . 22*. 33*. 15 Religious Values . 02 Source: K. Urberg

What do Peers Influence? l Consistent Support – l Alcohol use, smoking, aggressive or illegal behavior Recent Research (see Brechwald & Prinstein, 2011) – – Depressive symptoms, non-suicidal self injury Academic achievement Prosocial behaviors, protection from problem behaviors Suicide?

Social Networks Assumption: l Social adjustment is influenced by peer relationships beyond the level of the dyad – Behavioral characteristics of the group transcend the influence of dyadic affiliations

Method l l Each individual describes all the social groups in a specified context Composite, Social Map is Created – Are there some people who hang around together a lot at school? l l Groups of Boys? Groups of Girls? Your group? Anyone who doesn’t have a group?

Sample Network of 10 -year-olds

Social Networks and Homophily: Demographics

Social Networks and Homophily: Social Characteristics

Social Networks and Homophily: Outcomes

How do Peers Influence Each Other? l l Direct Socialization Social Learning Theory – – Observe social rewards and behaviors with positive social consequences (e. g. , the popular kids drink alcohol) Adhering to social norms of a valued group also leads to favorable views of oneself and intrinsically rewarding

It depends on… l 1. Behavior – – – Behaviors MOST susceptible to peer influence are associated with high peer status or popularity Anti-conformity: Not emulating these behaviors can lead to social exclusion or rejection Deviant peer groups are defined by their opposition to popular peer norms l Deviancy training (Dishion et al. , 1996)

It depends on… l 2. Gender – l Substance use, binge drinking stronger for boys 3. Age – – Older adolescents less susceptible Greater ability to inhibit/control behavior More able to engage independent thinking Greater prefrontal cortex development is linked to self-reported resistance to peer pressure (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007)

It depends on… l 4. Quality – l HIGHER quality friendships (intimacy, support, positive affect) are more influential 5. Social Anxiety – Increased peer conformity

Questions and Learning Objectives 1. How do we define/assess peer relationships? 2. How do adolescent peer relationships form and, once established, how stable are they? 3. What characteristics do peers influence? 4. How do peers influence one another? 5. Do peers with whom adolescents have no direct relationship matter?