Popularity Contagion Among Adolescents

This study aimed to support the theory of popularity contagion, which posits that popularity spreads among friends spontaneously and regardless of behavioral changes. Peer nominations of status and behavior were collected annually between 6th and 12th grades from a total of 1062 adolescents. Longitudinal hypotheses were mostly supported using path analyses, showing (1) that individual popularity could be predicted by friends’ popularity levels over time, even when controlling for stability of individual popularity; (2) that this prediction was not accounted for by behavioral contagion of aggressive or prosocial behaviors; and (3) that individual social preference generally could not be predicted by friends’ preference levels over time. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Friendships under strain: The work–personal life integration of middle managers

Middle managers in today's organisations have reported experiencing longer working hours and intensified work regimes. These increased pressures, in turn, have led to growing difficulty in addressing the integration of their work and personal lives. In an exploratory study of the daily workplace experiences of Australian middle managers and the impacts on their personal lives, one of the key themes to emerge was respondents’ concerns about the negative effects on their friendships. This paper discusses middle managers’ recognition of the value of friendships for their wellbeing, and the resultant anger and sadness reported at the strain on these relationships due to competing time demands. The significant role that friendships play in alleviating some of the stresses of work demands, while concurrently being impeded by these same demands, is an important issue for organisations to consider. These findings indicate the need for middle managers to truly have an ability to engage in activities – and friendships – which will aid them in their working lives. The study also indicates a need for further investigation into the development and maintenance of friendships for both middle managers and other groups of employees.     

Essential Conditions for Research with Children with Autism: Issues Raised by Two Case Studies

This article discusses conditions for research into the social experiences of children with autism in real‐life contexts using material from case studies of two boys with autism and their friends in mainstream school settings. It is argued that essential conditions for research with children with autism in ordinary social contexts should include a participatory approach, take a wide perspective of group processes, and account for multiple influences on social behaviour. Socially focused, participatory research design allows the social competencies that children with autism do have to be seen and produces multiple perspectives on children's social activity. Children and adults thinking together and sharing their ideas about the nature of experience for a child with autism and their friends allows for shared interpretations and reduces the very real possibility of one researcher alone making wrong assumptions about the nature of the investigation.     

Authenticity in friendships and well‐being in adolescence

Only a handful of studies have focused on understanding how authenticity in close relationships may be related to individuals’ well‐being. In this study we examined whether authenticity in a friendship was related to greater adjustment during adolescence. Participants were 318 sixth‐ and ninth‐grade students (155 boys; M _age = 13.46, SD _age = 1.51). Our results show that adolescents who feel more authentic have more positive self‐views, are less lonely at school, and more satisfied with their relationship. Importantly, authenticity–adjustment associations remained significant after controlling for positive friendship quality and conflict. These findings suggest that authenticity should be more often incorporated into the study of different friendship processes.     

A sociology of bullying: Placing youth aggression in social context

In this paper we review the sociological literature on peer aggression among adolescents and demonstrate how it can form the basis of a new subfield in sociology on the subject of bullying. Although sociologists have mostly avoided the term bullying in classic works on adolescent aggression, these studies suggest that institutional social control, status hierarchies and social inequalities provide important social context for youth aggression. While historically they have not been in dialog with each other, when taken together sociological research on youth status relations and social networks, systemic bias, school culture and social ecology can lay the foundation of a sociology of bullying. We suggest that if sociologists see this work as shedding light on issues of bullying, they can begin to play a larger role in the shaping of the national conversation on bullying and influence anti-bullying programs in schools to take better account of the social dimensions of bullying.     

An Economic Model of Friendship: Homophily,Minorities, and Segregation

We develop a model of friendship formation that sheds light on segregation patterns observed in social and economic networks. Individuals have types and see type‐dependent benefits from friendships. We examine the properties of a steady‐state equilibrium of a matching process of friendship formation. We use the model to understand three empirical patterns of friendship formation: (i) larger groups tend to form more same‐type ties and fewer other‐type ties than small groups, (ii) larger groups form more ties per capita, and (iii) all groups are biased towards same‐type relative to demographics, with the most extreme bias coming from middle‐sized groups. We show how these empirical observations can be generated by biases in preferences and biases in meetings. We also illustrate some welfare implications of the model.     

A Talent for Living: Exploring Ghana’s ‘New’ Urban Childhood

This paper considers the lives of children living in a large informal settlement in central Accra, Ghana. Its contention is that children remain largely absent from the renewal of interest in slums and that where they do feature it is largely as objects of risk and vulnerability. Such an exclusive focus, it is argued, risks effacing the ways in which children are capable of actively confronting the terrible constraints posed by slum environments and the ‘talent for living’ that this involves. Drawing upon the findings of a small qualitative exploratory research project, the paper examines sources of support and cooperation between children and how their decisions to work are perceived as a strategy to actively support mothers and families struggling for a subsistence.     

Stability and Change in Kindergartners' Friendships: Examination of Links with Social Functioning

Stability and change in kindergartners' friendships were examined based on a typology of profiles (stable, fluid, loss, gain, friendless). Our purpose was to determine whether children belonging to the five profiles differed in their social functioning. The sample was composed of 2353 kindergartners. Reciprocal friendships and social functioning indices were measured using peer nominations collected in October and May of the same year. A series of repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that children in the friendless profile were less accepted by their peers, more shy, more withdrawn, and more aggressive than other children. Moreover, children in the stable profile were significantly more accepted by their peers, more prosocial, and less shy than children in the fluid profile. Lastly, children in the loss profile became less accepted by their peers and less prosocial over the course of the year whereas children in the gain profile became more accepted and prosocial.     

Young Adolescents' Patterns of Involvement with Siblings and Friends

We identified different patterns in young adolescents' experiences with their siblings and their friends and investigated the connections between these relationship patterns and both young adolescents' psychosocial functioning and the characteristics of their family and neighbourhood contexts. Participants were 141 families, including mothers, fathers, young adolescents (M = 11.4 years), and their younger siblings (M = 8.3 years). Cluster analysis revealed three groups of young adolescents: (1) high intimacy and involvement with sibling, high intimacy with friend but low involvement with friends ('Differentiated'); (2) high intimacy and involvement with friend but not sibling ('Incongruent'); and (3) low involvement and intimacy with both sibling and friend ('Congruent'). The Congruent pattern was associated with young adolescents' personal characteristics and their parent-adolescent relationship experiences. In contrast, the Incongruent and Differentiated profiles were linked to contextual factors (i.e., family and neighbourhood resources). Findings suggest that individual differences exist in the associations between young adolescents' relationships with siblings and friends.     

Consumer Socialisation and Value Orientations among Estonian and Chinese Young People

This paper asks if Estonian and Chinese tweens’ access to pocket money influences their brand valuation, as well as value orientations in the context of perceived peer popularity and personal well‐being. Surveys conducted in autumns 2006 (China n = 188) and 2007 (Estonia n = 111) show an inherent cultural resistance among tweens in both countries towards using material standards to evaluate people and social relations. Access to own money correlates strongly with more consumerist values and strengthen the initial indications that individualist and expressive values are more highly esteemed by Estonian tweens, while social inclusion and approval are more vital for the Chinese.