The Friendship Features of Preschool Children: Links with Prosocial Behavior and Aggression

This study assessed features of young children's friendships and determined whether the features reported were associated with prosocial and aggressive behavior. Teachers completed the friendship features questionnaires (FFQ) on the mutual friendships in their class identified by the 98 children who were interviewed (M age =3.91 years). Four subscales (support, conflict, exclusivity/intimacy, and asymmetry) were differentiated from the 36‐item questionnaire. Teacher reports of friendship features showed moderate inter‐rater reliability and were associated with teacher reports of aggression and prosocial behavior and peer reports of acceptance and rejection. Friendship support was positively correlated with prosocial behavior, friendship conflict was positively correlated with overt aggression and peer rejection, and friendship exclusivity/intimacy was positively associated with relational aggression and negatively with peer acceptance. Findings are consistent with research on school age children's friendship features and their behavioral correlates.     

Developmental Influences and Gang Awareness among African-American Inner City Youth

This research aimed to clarify the correlates of gang awareness in inner city youth as a function of age, gender and peer group affiliation. It is proposed that the influence and hegemony of street gangs is a distinguishing feature of inner city neighborhoods, and that this influence is mediated by development. Participants (N = 489) were African American boys and girls from the 1st, 4th, and 7th grades in four inner city public schools. Students’ knowledge of gangs in the local community was determined. Social networks for 4th and 7th grade students were identified. Girls’ and boys’ familiarity with local gangs increased with age and differed by peer group affiliation. The relationship of gang familiarity to teacher and self‐ratings of aggression, popularity, and academic competence changed with age. These findings support the proposition that neighborhoods have nontrivial effects on social development, and these effects are likely to interact with developmental status and social affiliations.     

Gendered Social Worlds in Preschool: Dominance, Peer Acceptance and Assertive Social Skills in Boys' and Girls' Peer Groups

How dominance in the competitive MovieViewer (MV) task relates to peer preference and assertive behavior, and whether these relations differ for boys and girls were explored. Ninety‐one preschool children in same‐sex quartets were videotaped interacting in the MV task and dominance ranks were assigned according to viewing time. Peer preference was explored by looking separately at the number of likes and dislikes a child received in sociometric interviews. Multivariate analyses revealed that sex interacted with rank to explain peer acceptance but not peer rejection. High ranked boys were accepted more by peers than low ranked boys, while low ranked girls were accepted more than high ranked girls. Further analyses revealed that girls, but not boys, accepted the low ranked girls. The difference in girls’ and boys’ acceptance of same‐sex peers who act assertively in the MV task is consistent with the notion that gendered cultures develop in the preschool years.     

Risk and Resiliency Factors Among Adolescents Who Experience Marital Transitions

Using a resiliency framework, we examined familial and extrafamilial factors associated with adolescent well‐being in intact, blended, and divorced single‐parent families. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted using a large sample of 7th‐, 9th‐, and 11th‐grade adolescents (N= 2,011) to test the moderating effect of peer support, school attachment, and neighbor support when parental support and monitoring were low. Significant two‐ and three‐way interactions were probed. Findings indicate that divorced and blended families have some of the same forms of resiliency as intact families. For adolescents in a divorced single‐parent family, peer support moderated the effect of low parental support on internalizing symptoms. We discuss the merits of examining divorce from a resiliency perspective.     

Friendship and Delinquency: Selection and Influence Processes in Early Adolescence

Positive association of relevant characteristics is a widespread pattern among adolescent friends. A positive association may be caused by the selection of similar others as friends and by the deselection of dissimilar ones, but also by influence processes where friends adjust their behavior to each other. Social control theory argues that adolescents select each other as friends based on delinquency. Differential association theory, on the other hand, argues that adolescent friends influence each other's delinquency levels. We employ new statistical methods for assessing the empirical evidence for either process while controlling for the other process. These methods are based on ‘actor‐oriented’ stochastic simulation models. We analyze longitudinal data on friendship networks and delinquent behavior collected in four waves of 544 students in 21 first‐grade classrooms of Dutch secondary schools. Results indicate that adolescents select others as friends who have a similar level of delinquency compared with their own level. Estimates of the social influence parameters are not significant. The results are consistent with social control theory but provide no support for differential association theory.     

Developmental Changes in the Priority of Perceived Status in Childhood and Adolescence

This study examined the degree to which children and adolescents prioritize popularity in the peer group over other relational domains. Participants were 1013 children and adolescents from grade 1 through senior year of college (ages 6–22 years) who were presented with a series of social dilemmas in which attaining popularity was opposed to five other priorities: friendship, personal achievement, following rules, prosocial behavior, and romantic interests. A curvilinear trend was found for the priority of popularity that peaked in early adolescence. At this age especially, participants prioritized status enhancement over other domains. Across the age range of this study, males and majority students were more preoccupied with reputational status than females and minority students. The discussion focused on the developmental functions of reputational status in early adolescence.     

Individual, Family, and Peer Correlates of Adolescent Gambling

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the individual, family, and peer factors that correlate with adolescent gambling. High school students from three states ( N = 1,846) completed an anonymous questionnaire assessing the behavior of themselves, their parents, and their peers. Participants also reported on their gambling behavior via the SOGS-RA, which was used to create five adolescent gambling groups (i.e., Non-Gamblers, Non-Problem Gamblers, At-Risk Gamblers, Problem Gamblers, and Probable Pathological Gamblers). In a discriminant function analysis using demographic, individual, family, and peer factors as potential discriminators, two functions emerged that accounted for 94% of the variance between groups. The first function was linear, with the Probable Pathological Gamblers reporting the highest level of peer and parent gambling, susceptibility to peer pressure, conduct problems, binge drinking, suicide attempts, drug use, and being male. The second function highlighted three unique qualities of individuals in the two outlying groups: Probable Pathological Gamblers and Non-Gamblers. These findings suggest that demographic, individual, family, and peer variables are all important correlates of probable pathological gambling in adolescents. Results also support the utility of a five-group classification scheme based on the SOGS-RA. The clinical implications of these results are discussed.     

Parent and Peer Effects on Delinquency-related Violence and Dating Violence: A Test of Two Mediational Models

Drawing on two complementary process models of violence, i.e., social cognitive theory and rejection sensitivity theory, the goal of the present study was (1) to examine the unique effects of parents and peers on boys’ violent behavior in delinquency‐related contexts and in dating relationships, (2) to assess the mediating processes underlying these links, and (3) to test whether these processes operate in the same way for delinquency‐related violence and dating violence. Based on a sample of 336 boys, results showed that problematic experiences with parents and with peers each predicted subsequent violence, both in delinquency‐related and in dating‐related contexts. However, the contributions of the social cognitive model and the rejection sensitivity model in explaining these links varied somewhat depending on the situational context of the violent behavior. The implications of the similarities and specificities in the risk factors and pathways leading to delinquency‐related violence and dating violence are discussed.     

Peers' influence and African-American youth in public housing

Drawing from problem behavior theory (PBT), this study investigates whether the relationship between exposure to delinquent peers and delinquent behavior is moderated by peer influences as well as by generalized self-efficacy and an adolescent's attitudes toward deviance. We also explore how gender may influence these relationships. A sample of 401 African-American adolescents living in public housing developments in two large US cities was recruited for this investigation. The preliminary analyses included t-test and bivariate correlations, while our primary analysis included hierarchical regression analysis. The regression analysis included two-way and three-way interaction terms to assess the moderating effects of peer influences, generalized self-efficacy, and attitudes toward deviance as well as gender, respectively. Results indicate that the effects of exposure to delinquent peers depend on peers' influence over adolescents and other factors. Findings provide partial support for PBT and suggest that the relationship between exposure to delinquent peers and delinquent behavior, with regard to minority youth living in urban public housing, merits further investigation. Results have the potential to guide preventative interventions targeting African-American youth living in urban public housing and also inform future inquiries into the lives of such youth.     

Adolescent egocentrism and indoor tanning: is the relationship direct or mediated?

This paper explored how imaginary audience and personal fable ideations contribute to adolescent indoor tanning intentions directly and indirectly through the way they shape pro-tanning attitude and association with peers who use tanning beds. Five hundred and ninety-five male (n = 207) and female (n = 387) adolescents, ranging in age from 11 to 19 (M = 16.87; SD = 1.34) years completed a cross-sectional survey. Measures included imaginary audience, personal fable (three dimensions: invulnerability, uniqueness, and omnipotence), pro-tanning attitude, association with peers who use tanning beds, and tanning bed use intentions. Bootstrapping analyses documented that imaginary audience ideations are indirectly associated with indoor tanning intentions through the mediation of pro-tanning attitude and association with peers who use tanning beds. Of the personal fable ideations, only invulnerability ideation is indirectly associated with indoor tanning intentions through the mediation of association with peers who use tanning beds. Design and evaluation of interventions and campaigns to reduce indoor tanning must be targeted to adolescents varying in imaginary audience ideations differently.