Dimensions of Children's Friendship Adjustment: Implications for Understanding Loneliness

Describing the Dark Side of Preadolescents' Peer Experiences: Four Questions (and Data) on Preadolescents' enemies

“…This finding stands in contrast to the peer rejection literature, which has demonstrated that children who are rejected by the peer group tend to report feeling lonely and dissatisfied with their social experiences (Parker, Saxon, Asher, and Kovacs, 1999). One interpretation of this finding is that the source of victimization has important implications for children's attributions concerning its cause.…”

“…Thus, if Carrie's animosity toward Laura is not widely shared, the chorus of praise the larger peer group provides will obscure her lone voice of disdain. Moreover, the feelings of the focal child about particular class members do not enter into the calculation of group acceptance or rejection (Asher, Parkhurst, Hymel, and Williams, 1996;Bukowski and Hoza, 1989;Parker, Saxon, Asher, and Kovacs, 1999). Thus, the fact that Laura does not feel similar animosity toward other individuals who also dislike her is missed.…”

“…Unlike group acceptance, friendship is necessarily bilateral and particularized. The views of specific peers are not interchangeable, and one must assess or assume that both parties to the relationship feel similarly toward one another (Asher, Parkhurst, Hymel, and Williams, 1996;Bukowski and Hoza, 1989;Parker, Saxon, Asher, and Kovacs, 1999). Friendship implies that the individuals involved in the dyad mutually like one another and have some shared history, and studies of children's friendships emphasize the numbers of friends children have or the varieties of intimacy, social support, and closeness children experience in these relationships.…”

The Timing of Middle‐Childhood Peer Rejection and Friendship: Linking Early Behavior to Early‐Adolescent Adjustment

“…Several studies have documented the link between peer rejection and childhood externalizing problems, such as antisocial behavior (for reviews, see Boivin, Vitaro, & Poulin, 2005;Rubin et al, 1998). Some studies have also shown that peer rejection is associated with heightened risk for internalizing problems in childhood, including depressed mood and loneliness (Boivin, Poulin, & Vitaro, 1994;Ladd & Troop-Gordon, 2003;Lopez & DuBois, 2005;McDougall, Hymel, Vaillancourt, & Mercer, 2001;Ollendick, Weist, Borden, & Greene, 1992;Panak & Garber, 1992;Parker & Asher, 1987;Parker, Saxon, Asher, & Kovacs, 1999).…”

Friendship Moderates Prospective Associations Between Social Isolation and Adjustment Problems in Young Children

“…First, friends may help isolated children avoid internalizing and externalizing problems. The companionship and instrumental support of friends may protect isolated children against feeling lonely, inadequate, and depressed (Parker, Saxon, Asher, & Kovacs, 1999). Friends may defend isolated children against adversaries, forestalling victimization and the host of adjustment problems that attend it (Bukowski & Sippola, 2001).…”