Health Status and Peer Relationships in Early Adolescence: The Role of Peer Contact, Self-esteem, and Social Anxiety

Abstract

We examined associations between children's health status and the quality of their peer relationships, as well as factors that may account for individual variation in the quality of chronically ill and healthy children's peer relationships. Our sample included 268 children (138 boys; 130 girls) with 149 European-Americans and 119 AfricanAmericans. There were 91 children with a chronic illness; 35 with asthma, 26 with diabetes, and 30 with obesity. Chronically ill children were characterized by teachers as displaying less prosocial behavior, less overt aggression, and less relational aggression with peers than healthy children. Chronically ill children reported lower levels of peer contact and higher levels of social anxiety than healthy children. Among chronically ill children those with high self-esteem were more prosocial and less aggressive than those with low self-esteem. Our findings suggest that chronically ill children are at risk for peer relationship difficulties, but that selfesteem may serve as a protective factor against poor peer relationships for some chronically ill children.

Physical activity experiences in children post–liver transplant: Developing a foundation for rehabilitation interventions

“…Establishing positive peer relationships is an important aspect of psychosocial health and development in childhood with implications for normative social adjustment. 41 Chronic illness in youth may contribute to lower levels of social competence, 42 and difficulty with peer relationships is one of the most influential factors on self-esteem and general well-being. 43 Parents in this study recognized that peer relationships and social competence can be an area of vulnerability 42 and children reported a desire to physically "keep up" and be accepted by peers within the context of PA. PA provides an opportunity for peer engagement, acceptance, and the development of relationships, and there is strong evidence that participation with friends is associated with higher levels of PA. 44 Understanding the role that PA plays in children's social and emotional health is valuable information for parents in supporting participation.…”

Socialization of Social Anxiety in Adolescent Crowds

“…In one study, socially anxious girls were found to be at higher risk for developing depressive symptoms over time due to a greater susceptibility to peer contagion (Prinstein 2007). As socially anxious individuals usually have poor self-esteem (McCarroll et al 2009), they might be more vulnerable to peer contagion-both in close relationships and in the crowd social network. Consequently, socially anxious adolescents may be at increased risk to reinforce their social anxiety because they could be more vulnerable to peer contagion than less socially anxious adolescents.…”

Social Anxiety as a Basis for Friendship Selection and Socialization in Adolescents' Social Networks

“…For socially anxious youths, this might imply that selecting friends who are equally socially anxious might be the best strategy for avoiding social scrutiny. Because social anxiety in early adolescence is linked to poor self-esteem (McCarroll, Lindsey, MacKinnon-Lewis, Campbell Chambers, & Frabutt, 2009) and conformant behaviors (Santee & Maslach, 1982), it is reasonable to think that socially anxious youths might avoid the popular groups to reduce the chance of evaluation by and disagreements with others. Although there is no direct empirical evidence that adolescents select their friends based on similarity of social anxiety, studies of younger children show that shy or withdrawn children tend to be similar to their friends in terms of socially fearful, withdrawn characteristics (Gu¨roglu, Van Lieshout, Haselager, & Scholte, 2007;Haselager, Hartup, Van Lieshout, & Riksen-Walraven, 1998;.…”