The unique contributions of peer acceptance, friendship, and victimization to adjustment were examined. How these relational systems moderate the influence of one another to influence adjustment was also investigated. Friendship quality, a unique aspect of friendship, was expected to be especially important for adjustment when other relational systems were poor. A total of 238 fifth to eighth graders (boys = 109) participated in the survey-style paradigm. Youth participants completed measures assessing their friendships and peer relationships. Teachers provided assessments of adjustment. Adolescents who had lower levels of peer acceptance, number of friends, and friendship quality had greater teacher-reported maladjustment. Friendship quality was also an important buffer against adjustment problems when peer acceptance and number of friends were low. The outcomes of this article suggest that an approach that includes examining the quality of adolescents' friendships, peer interactions, and interactive models of relationship dimensions are informative for understanding adolescents' general adjustment.

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On the basis of the assumption that Latino Americans use a simpático self-schema more than White Americans do, the authors predicted that the effects of this difference would be evident in the participants' self-concepts and social behavior. As predicted, Studies 1 and 2 revealed that Latino participants reported significantly more simpático-related terms in their spontaneous self-concepts than did White participants. Complementing these findings, Study 3a revealed that the level of interactional involvement and the perceived quality of initial same-sex interactions was significantly enhanced by the presence of Latino dyad members. Study 3b tested the prediction that the content of the dyad members' thoughts and feelings would reveal a greater use of the simpático self-schema by the Latino participants. This prediction was confirmed, and follow-up analyses indicated that a simpático self-schema plays an important mediating role in the subjective experience and social behavior of Latino individuals.

This study examined the contributions of peer acceptance and friendship (i.e., number and quality) on children being relationally or overtly peer victimized. Fifth-and sixth-grade children (N= 207, 92 boys) provided self-and peer-reports of victimization, friendship, and peer acceptance. General peer acceptance and high-quality friendships uniquely predicted both overt and relational victimization. Fall victimization did not predict spring friendship quality; however, fall friendship quality did predict spring victimization levels. For children with lower peer acceptance, high-quality friendships appeared to play an especially important role in determining the targets of peer abuse. Approaches that include friendship quality as well as interactive models of relationship dimensions may be informative for understanding victimization as well as children's general adjustment.

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