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Objective: The present study concerns an overlooked trait indicator of childhood peer status: Being fun. The study is designed to identify the degree to which being fun is uniquely associated with the peer status variables of likeability and popularity., Method: Two studies of children in grades 4 to 6 (ages 9 to 12) are reported. The first involved 306 girls and 305 boys attending school in northern Colombia. The second involved 363 girls and 299 boys attending school in southern Florida. Students completed similar peer nomination inventories, once in the first study and twice (8 weeks apart) in the second., Results: In both studies, being fun was positively correlated with likeability and popularity. In the second study, being fun predicted subsequent changes in likeability and popularity, after controlling for factors known to be related to each. Initial likeability and popularity also predicted subsequent changes in perceptions of being fun., Conclusions: Anecdotal evidence suggests that children are intensely focused on having fun. The findings indicate that this focus extends beyond the immediate rewards that fun experiences provide; some portion of peer status is uniquely derived from the perception that one is fun to be around., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Although peer relations are recognized as a fundamental developmental context, they have been rarely studied as a means of understanding the effects of socioeconomic status and inequality. In this paper, we show how and why peer relations provide a unique and powerful opportunity to assess the differential risks and resources available in the peer system to children and adolescents from different SES spectra. We argue that research on the intersection between SES and peer relations will enrich both these domains of study., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: To examine the psychometric properties of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) peer relationships short form (PR-SF), including association with peer-reported friendships, likeability, and social reputation., Method: 203 children (Mage = 10.12 years, SD = 2.37, range = 6-14) in Grades 1-8 completed the 8-item PR-SF and friendship nominations, like ratings, and social reputation measures about their peers during 2 classroom visits approximately 4 months apart, as part of a larger study. A confirmatory factor analysis, followed by an exploratory factor analysis, was conducted to examine the factor structure of the PR-SF. Spearman correlations between the PR-SF and peer-reported outcomes evaluated construct validity., Results: For the PR-SF, a 2-factor solution demonstrated better fit than a 1-factor solution. The 2 factors appear to assess friendship quality (3 items) and peer acceptance (5 items). Reliability was marginal for the friendship quality factor (.66) but adequate for the acceptance factor (.85); stability was .34 for the PR-SF over 4 months. The PR-SF (8 items) and acceptance factor (5 items) both had modest but significant correlations with measures of friendship (rs = .25-.27), likeability (rs = .21-.22), and social reputation (rs = .29-.44)., Conclusions: The PR-SF appears to be measuring two distinct aspects of social functioning. The 5-item peer acceptance scale is modestly associated with peer-reported friendship, likeability, and social reputation. Although not a replacement for peer-reported outcomes, the PR-SF is a promising patient-reported outcome for peer relationships in youth.

A two-wave longitudinal study of 380 preadolescents (M age = 10.87) from largely middle-class schools in Montréal, Québec, Canada, assessed the hypothesis that friendship security, but not friendship intimacy, moderates the stability of anxiety during adolescence. This central but largely overlooked question about peer relations concerns which aspects of friendship account for the effects of friendship on emotional adjustment. Anxiety and friendship quality were measured via self-report questionnaires, employing the Network of Relationships Inventory for security and intimacy items. An index of friendship durability, which combined reciprocity and stability within first- and second-best friendship choices, was derived from sociometric measures. A latent variable path analysis examined with structural equation modeling showed that anxiety was less stable for children who perceived their friendships as secure. The moderating effect of intimacy was statistically nonsignificant. A follow-up analysis showed that the effects of security did not result from friendship durability. These findings provide support for the long-standing but previously unaddressed hypothesis that security, rather than intimacy, accounts for friendship's effect on anxiety reduction during early adolescence.

This study tests the hypothesis that adolescents with romantic partners are less similar to their friends on rates of alcohol abuse than adolescents without romantic partners. Participants (662 girls, 574 boys) ranging in age from 12 to 19 years nominated friends and romantic partners, and completed a measure of alcohol abuse. In hierarchical linear models, friends with romantic partners were less similar on rates of alcohol abuse than friends without romantic partners, especially if they were older and less accepted. Follow-up longitudinal analyses were conducted on a subsample (266 boys, 374 girls) of adolescents who reported friendships that were stable across 2 consecutive years. Associations between friend reports of alcohol abuse declined after adolescents became involved in a romantic relationship, to the point at which they became more similar to their romantic partners than to their friends. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

The study examined whether reciprocal friendship quantity or quality can mitigate genetic vulnerability for depression symptoms in children. The sample comprised 168 monozygotic twin pairs and 126 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs assessed in Grade 4 (mean age = 10.04 years). Friendship participation was measured via reciprocal nominations of close friendships within the classroom. Friendship quality was measured through self-reports. Depression symptoms were measured through teacher and peer reports. Genetic vulnerability for depression symptoms was unrelated to friendship participation or the number of reciprocal friends, but it was negatively related to positive friendship quality. In line with gene-environment interaction, genetic risk effects on depression symptoms were mitigated in girls who had at least one close reciprocal friend. In boys, only moderate main effects of genetic vulnerability and friendship participation were found but no interaction between them. However, among boys with at least one reciprocal friend, a greater number of friends was related to fewer depression symptoms whereas no cumulative effect of friendship was found for girls. Finally, positive friendship quality was related to fewer depression symptoms in girls and boys even when controlling for genetic risk. The findings emphasize the importance of teaching social interactional skills that promote high-quality friendship relations to help prevent the development of depression symptoms in children.

Objective: The objective of the current study was to assess whether relationships with mothers and peers moderate the association between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and anxiety disorders. That is, positive and supportive experiences were expected to minimize the effects of CSA whereas nonsupportive experiences were expected to magnify them., Method: Participants from a large, stratified, multistage-area, probability community sample provided retrospective reports of CSA and childhood relationships with mothers and peers and a modified version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview produced life-time psychiatric diagnoses of four non-phobic anxiety disorders after the age of 18., Results: Utilizing multiple-regressions, a two-way interaction found that for those reporting low levels of friendship quality there was a stronger link between CSA and the number of diagnosed anxiety disorder than those reporting high levels of friendship quality. In addition a three-way interaction found that those reporting to have no friends and a low quality mother-child relationships had the strongest association between CSA and the number of diagnosed anxiety disorders, while those reporting to have many friends and a high quality relationship had the weakest association., Conclusions: The findings from the current study suggest that relationships with friends and parents may play an important role in understanding the links between childhood sexual abuse and later anxiety disorders and that these relationships may also be important sources of protection against the negative effects of childhood sexual abuse.

Participants included 165 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; 130 boys, 35 girls) and their 1,298 same-sex classmates (1,026 boys, 272 girls) who served as raters. For each child with ADHD, a child of the same sex was randomly selected from the same classroom to serve as a comparison child, which yielded 165 dyads. Consistent with predictions, contrasted with the comparison children, those with ADHD were lower on social preference, higher on social impact, less well liked, and more often in the rejected social status category; they also had fewer dyadic friends. When liking ratings that children made versus received were examined, children with ADHD had less positive imbalance and greater negative imbalance relative to comparison children. Analyses that considered the types of peers who chose children with ADHD as friends or nonfriends demonstrated that children with ADHD were nominated as nonfriends by children of higher social preference and who were better liked by others., ((c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved.)

Objective: Growth hormone treatment of hormone-sufficient short youths is predicated on the belief that short stature is associated with social problems with peers. This study assessed peer relations and social adjustment as a function of height in a community sample., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at 1 public school district in Western New York of students of both genders who attended grades 6 to 12 (N = 956). Target groups included participants of short stature (height or=1.6 standard deviation; >or=95th percentile; n = 58) and classmates of average height (between the 25th and 75th percentiles; n = 123) used for within-class comparisons. All remaining unclassified classmates (n = 704) also provided data. Self- and peer-rated assessment of social reputation and social acceptance was measured., Results: Minimal effects of height on measures of social functioning were detected despite substantial statistical power. We detected no significant relationships between height and measures of friendship, popularity, or reputation with peers. Findings did not vary by gender of participant, by peer- or self-report, or by whether data from the entire sample were used or target groups were contrasted with comparison participants. Shorter students were perceived by peers to be younger than their age. This influence was restricted to lower grades and did not have an impact on measures of social acceptance or reputation with peers., Conclusions: Extremes of stature in the general population-either short or tall-have minimal detectable impact on peer perceptions of social behavior, friendship, or acceptance. Findings are not supportive of the need to intervene a priori because of the potential risk of negative stature-related social sequelae. Furthermore, if problems with peer relationships are identified among short or tall youths, then factors other than stature should be considered as etiologically important.

This meta‐analysis examined concurrent associations between aggression, withdrawal, assertion, and prosocial behavior and each of positive and negative friendship quality across studies with 22,657 children and adolescents (Mage = 11.71 years; 51.7% girls; 67.7% White). Studies were published between 1995 to 2021 and 32.4% were conducted outside of North America. Aggression was linked to more negative, r¯ =.19, 95% CI [.14,.24], and less positive, r¯ = −.05 [−.08, −.01], friendships. Withdrawal was associated with less positive friendships, r¯ = −.13 [−.18, −.08], whereas prosocial behavior was related to more positive, r¯ =.29 [.22,.37], as well as less negative, r¯ = −.16 [−.20, −.12], friendships. Assertion was related to more positive friendships, r¯ =.15 [.01,.28]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its importance, replication has remained in the background of social development research. The aim of this special section was to elucidate and elevate the role of replication in peer relations research. examining its challenges and its utility for moving the field forward. To accomplish this aim, five sets of researchers undertook identifying an important finding from a widely cited article in the peer literature and tried to replicate its basic results using new data. As a group, the resulting five articles cover a broad range of topics, measures, and methods that are seen in peer research. Four of the five articles provide evidence of replication. This evidence was seen more for basic principles or processes observed in earlier studies than for exact or specific findings. In addition, the authors used varied approaches to replication, highlighting the need to embrace diverse methods when attempting to replicate complicated mechanisms of social development. It is argued that replication efforts should be aimed at identifying basic principles and processes of social development while clarifying the parameters that account for variability across studies in the specific findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to analyse the interpersonal relationships in the school context of children living in different care settings (adoptive families, residential care centres, birth families). Participants were 76 children between eight and fourteen years of age (M = 10.78, SD = 1.38), belonging to one of three groups: international adoptees, children living in residential care in Spanish institutions, and a comparison sample of Spanish children living with their birth families with no connection with child protection. Sociometric information was collected in the classroom of each child during school hours. Internationally adopted children from Russia showed considerable difficulties in their relationships with peers; they were more likely to be rejected and their peers described them as less prosocial and somewhat more aggressive. With a better sociometric position than the adoptees, children in residential care were rated by their peers as more aggressive and less prosocial than the normative population. Coordination and integrated work between the family, protection centres, schools, and other social services should be a strategic priority in the promotion of healthy social development in these groups of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the current study was to better understand the development of gender typicality in young adulthood by applying the dual-identity approach to gender typicality, previously developed with children, to a university sample. Participants (n = 215, Mage = 20.20 years; 62% female) were asked to rate their perceived similarity to both own- and other-gender peers. They also completed questionnaires assessing sexist attitudes, internalized sexualization (females), adherence to male-typed behaviors in the context of interpersonal relationships (males; adherence to physical toughness and restrictive emotional expressivity), gender-based relationship efficacy, friendships, self-esteem, social self-efficacy, and social anxiety. Results indicated that self-perceived gender typicality involves comparisons to both gender groups, and that meaningful typologies can be created based on similarity to own- and other-gender groups. As with children, results indicated that identifying with one's own gender was advantageous in terms of low social anxiety and relationships with own-gender peers. For adults who identified with both own- and other-gender peers, we identified additional social benefits (i.e., efficacy and friendships with other-gender peers). Further, we identified a downside to own-gender typicality: individuals who identified only with their own gender had more sexist attitudes than those who identified with the other gender. Findings support the viability of the dual-identity approach in young adults, and have implications for researchers assessing gender typicality across development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have demonstrated that several contextual factors influence the relationship between aggression and peer victimization in early adolescence, including gender of the same-sex peer group and gender composition of the school. The current study replicated and expanded on this research by examining the moderating influences of gender of the same-sex peer group, same-sex peer group norms, and classroom gender composition in a sample of early adolescents from Barranquilla, Colombia. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that both relational and physical aggression were positive predictors of peer victimization. Relationally aggressive girls were at a lower risk for victimization while physically aggressive girls were at a higher risk. Relational aggression was a weaker predictor in classes with a larger proportion of girls. Additionally, relational aggression was a weaker predictor in same-sex peer groups with a greater prevalence of relational aggression. These findings provide further evidence of multiple forms of contextual influence on social behavior. Practical implications for these findings are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-national study investigates the perception of the impact of students’ relationships towards teachers and peers on scholastic motivation in a total sample of 1477 seventh and eighth grade German (N = 1088) and Canadian (N = 389) secondary school students. By applying Multigroup Confirmatory Latent Class Analysis in Mplus we confirmed four different motivation types: (1) teacher-dependent; (2) peer-dependent; (3) teacher-and-peer-dependent; (4) teacher-and-peer-independent motivation types in Québec, Canada, as they were found in a preliminary study among German students in the state of Brandenburg (Raufelder, Jagenow, Drury, & Hoferichter, 2013). However, across the two samples, the class sizes varied considerable. The largest group among Canadian students was composed of teacher-and-peer-dependent students, followed by teacher-and-peer-independent students, while the largest group among German students was composed of peer-dependent students, followed by teacher-and-peer-independent students. In both settings the teacher-dependent motivation type constituted the smallest group. These results manifest the different impacts of social environmental variables on the motivation of German and Canadian students, having practical implications for school psychologists and educators in general. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The goal of the current study was to examine how the presence of a best friend might serve as protection against the effect of negative experiences on global self-worth and the hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenocortical axis (HPA axis). A total of 103 English-speaking male (n = 55) and female (n = 48) participants from Grade 5 (AÍ = 10.27 years) and Grade 6 (M = 11.30 years) completed booklets about their experiences that occurred 20 min previously and how they felt about themselves at the moment, and they provided saliva multiple times per day over the course of 4 consecutive days. Having a best friend present during an experience significantly buffered the effect of the negativity of the experience on cortisol and global self-worth. When a best friend was not present, there was a significant increase in cortisol and a significant decrease in global self-worth as the negativity of the experience increased. When a best friend was present, there was less change in cortisol and global self-worth due to the negativity of the experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of friendship, sex, and gender come in many forms and address a set of questions that are as broad as the study of friendship itself. The papers in this special issue reveal gender differences in the features, processes, and outcomes related to friendship. This commentary aims to place these papers within the broader literature on peer relations. We show that each of these studies is just a beginning, however, as basic points about the origins and meanings of sex and gender effects deserve further focus and scrutiny. Suggestions are offered to promote the further development of research on sex, gender, and relationships with peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a prospective design spanning 17 years, the authors studied in a sample of 231 boys and girls the predictive links of verbal abuse by the teacher during childhood to high-school graduation and behavioral and emotional problems in young adulthood, as well as the putative mediating role of individuals' generalized and domain-specific self-concept in this context. Results show that verbal abuse by the teacher during childhood was positively related to behavior problems and (for girls) a low probability of having obtained a high school diploma by age 23 years, even when controlling for childhood levels of antisociality, anxiety, school performance, and social preference in the peer group. No conclusive evidence was found for a mediation effect of children's general or domain-specific self-concept, however. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings am discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of developmental psychopathology has been challenged by various issues in understanding the link between social experiences and psychopathology. These challenges involve conceptual, methodological and statistical concerns that are often interrelated. This article examines four advances in resolving these concerns. First, co-rumination and deviancy training are discussed as specific interpersonal processes that are examples of important social experiences for predicting psychopathology. Second, dynamic properties of dyadic interaction are discussed as one of the recent advances in methodology for this area. Third, the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model is outlined as one of the recent statistical advances in the study of individuals within a dyad. Fourth, changes in the study of culture are presented as informing the understanding link between social experiences and developmental psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of friendship reciprocation and friend aggression on the stability of aggression across a 6- month period following the transition to secondary school was studied in a sample of 298 Grade 6 children from a predominately white, middle-class, Midwestern American community. The stability of aggression was generally high but it varied as a function of (I) the level of aggression of both individuals in the friendship and (2) whether the friendship was reciprocated. For children with high initial levels of aggression, those with unreciprocated aggressive friends were the most stable in their aggression. For children with low initial levels of aggression, most children remained stably low in aggression, with type of friendship and friend aggression having little effect on stability. Adolescents who were high in aggression at time 1 (TI) and had an aggressive friend (reciprocated or not) remained aggressive at time 2 (T2), but those who were aggressive at TI and had nonaggressive friends actually displayed much lower levels of aggression at T2. The opposite did not occur for those adolescents low in aggression at TI. Those low in aggression with aggressive friends at Tl did not increase in aggression. These findings were discussed in light of current thinking about the effect of friendship on development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the study of peer relations has grown and developed, it has gained a prominent position in the understanding of developmental process and psychopathology. During its development, research in peer relations has moved from a more undifferentiated, global state to a state of increased articulation and complexity. This introductory essay attempts to provide examples of five models that reflect the state of the art in peer relation research: Markers, moderators, mediators, mechanisms, and meanings. Examples from the papers in the special issue and research from the general field of peer relations are used to illustrate these five approaches to the study of peer relations and developmental psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Associations among (a) self-disclosures between early adolescent siblings, (b) emotional understanding, and (c) relationship warmth were investigated. Grade 5–6 children (M age = 11.5 years) were interviewed concerning the incidence of disclosures to closest-in-age siblings (20 = older, 20 = younger), feelings regarding disclosing (or not), and sibling relationship quality. Warmth was measured with the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985) and emotional understanding was assessed with the Hypothetical Relationships Picture Task (adapted from Schneider, 1989, & Aquan-Assee, 1992). Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated self-disclosure was positively associated with feeling good about sharing and negatively associated with reports of not trusting or not receiving emotional support from their sibling. Sibling relationship warmth was a key characteristic associated with both emotional understanding and self-disclosure; female target children demonstrated greater emotional understanding. Warmth, but not emotional understanding, was associated with self-disclosure. Findings are discussed in light of the importance of links between affective relationships and children’s social-emotional understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of stability plays an important role in the measurement of children's peer relations. This article focuses on the temporal stability of children's peer relations, as assessed with sociometric methods. Even before the use of sociometrics, researchers studied the stability of social structure in children's playmates and workmates across a five-month period. The boys' peer preferences were obtained two months into the school year and again three months later. The results of this study indicated that 92 percent of the boys' first choice and 82 percent of their second choices remained unchanged across the three-month interval.

Sociometry has had a prominent place in the research literature on children's social development. It has been used widely in the study of peer relations as both a technique for measuring the positive and negative forces among children and as a conceptual scheme for understanding the basic processes of the peer system. However, in spite of sociometry's rich conceptual and methodological heritage, some issues regarding the use of sociometric measures remain unresolved and, in some cases, unexamined. In this article, two of the unresolved issues are being addressed. One, how the two sociometric constructs, acceptance and rejection, are related to each other and to other sociometric constructs. Two, whether nomination and rating scale measures index the same constructs.

This article presents an introduction to the basic ideas of Jacob Moreno's historical model of sociometric judgment and a brief history of the use of this model in child development research. The authors' goal is to show how developmental psychologists have used the sociometric perspective to understand social development. By highlighting the concepts and ideas that researchers took from Moreno's perspective, as well as what was left behind, the strengths and limitations of contemporary sociometric methods is revealed.

A developmental guide to close relationships is presented. Parent-child, sibling, friend, and romantic relationships are described along dimensions that address permanence, power, and gender. These dimensions describe relationship differences in organisational principles that encompass internal representations, social understanding, and interpersonal experiences. The concept of domain specificity is borrowed from cognitive development to address the shifting developmental dynamics of close relationships. Distinct relationships are organised around distinct socialisation tasks, so each relationship requires its own organisational system. As a consequence, different principles guide different relationships, and these organisational principles change with development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was examined whether early adolescents' involvement in a romantic relationship would be differentially related to adjustment, depending on their relations with the same-sex peer group. Three hundred and twelve 7th graders were assessed with respect to their social acceptance by same-sex peers, involvement in reciprocal same-sex friendships, involvement in romantic relationships, self-esteem, antisocial behavior, and academic performance. Social acceptance by other-sex peers and involvement in reciprocal other-sex friendships were also assessed for control purposes. The results showed that having a boyfriend/girlfriend was related to poorer emotional and behavioral adjustment for those early adolescents who were unpopular among same-sex peers. For adolescents who were popular among same-sex peers, romantic involvement was not related to emotional and behavioral adjustment. Independently of same-sex peer acceptance, however, romantic involvement was negatively related to academic performance, albeit only for girls. The results are discussed in light of Sullivan's theory of social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]