Peer Relations

Peer Relations

1. Adolescent Groups

   • Groups
     • Adolescent groups differ from childhood: Childhood groups often are friends or neighbor acquaintances Usually not as formalized as many adolescent groups Tend to include broader array of members
   • Cliques and Crowds
     • Small groups that range from about 2-12 individuals and average about 5-6 individuals Members usually of same sex and similar in age Often form because of similar activities
     • Crowds: larger and less personal than cliques Usually members of a crowd based on reputation Crowds defined by activities adolescents engage in Reputation based crowds often appear for the first time in early adolescence and less prominent in late adolescence

2. Peer Relations

   • Peers
     • Individuals who are about the same age or maturity level
   • Important Functions
     • Provide a source of information about the world outside the family Adolescents receive feedback about their abilities Learn whether what they do compares to others
   • Influences
     • Can be both positive and negative Explore principles of fairness and justice by working through disagreements with peers Adolescents learn to be skilled and sensitive partners
     • Rejection and neglect by peers related to subsequent mental health
   • Peer Pressure
     • Conformity to peers especially to antisocial standards peaks
     • Adolescents uncertain about social identity, which can appear in form of low self esteem and high social anxiety most likely to conform Peers more likely to conform when in presence of someone they perceive to have higher status
     • Social cognition and emotion: thoughts about social matters, as children move into adolescence, they acquire more social knowledge
     • 5 Steps in Processing Info About Social World: decoding social cues interpretation response search selection of optimal response enactment
     • Ability to regulate emotion linked to successful peer relations Moody and emotionally negative individuals experience greater rejection by peers
     • Strategies to improve social skills: Combination of techniques like demonstrating, discussion, and use of reinforcement

3. Friendship

   • Subset of peers
     • Engage in mutual companionship, support, and intimacy Friendship serves 6 functions
   • In adolescence
     • Being popular with peers is motivation starting in early adolescence, teens prefer fewer, more intense friendships If adolescents fail to forge these, they risk loneliness and reduced self worth
   • Intimacy and Similarity
     • Defined in different ways Most studies define it as self disclosure or sharing of private thoughts Important feature of friendship
     • Friends are generally similar in terms of look, age, etc.
   • Loneliness
     • All of us feel this way For some, loneliness is a chronic condition, which is linked to impaired physical and mental health Important to distinguish being lonely from desire to be alone