Peer Relationships in Childhood

Abstract

The significance of peers in the lives of children and adolescents is described. The chapter begins with a discussion of theory relevant to the study of peer interactions, relationships, and groups. Next examined are the prevalence, stability, and characteristics of children’s friendships, the psychosocial correlates and consequences of having a mutual friendship and of having friendships with others who are experiencing adjustment difficulties. Thereafter, sections are focused on the assessment of peer acceptance, rejection, and popularity, and the behavioral, social-cognitive, affective, and self-system concomitants and longitudinal outcomes of peer acceptance and rejection. Subsequently, the extant literature pertaining to child and adolescent peer groups, cliques, and crowds is described. In the next section, the growing literature on culture and peer relationships is discussed. Then, in the summary, we present a transactional, developmental framework for understanding individual differences in children’s peer relationships experiences.

The impact of language skills and social competence on play behaviour in toddlers

“…Those are strategies that are associated with social success (Gresham and Elliott 1990;Rubin et al 2013) as they usually lead to agreement among the children and let them get along. However, toddlers' use of non-verbal vs verbal strategies are highly dependent upon whether there is agreement among the children in the play group or not.…”

Children with traumatic brain injury: Associations between parenting and social adjustment

“…Examination of peer-related functioning is critical as difficulties in peer interactions may serve as a precursor to the development of interpersonal and intrapersonal maladaptation (e.g., Ladd, 2006; Pedersen, Vitaro, Barker, & Borge, 2007; Sentse, Lindenberg, Omvlee, Ormel, & Veenstra, 2010). In support of the relevance of peer group interactions, peer-rated and teacher-rated maladaptive behaviors within the peer group are associated with problems of an internalizing and externalizing nature, and children's behavioral characteristics (e.g., aggression; social withdrawal) predict rejection, exclusion, and victimization by peers (Rubin, Bowker, McDonald, & Menzer, 2013). Recent work has indicated that children with TBI are more likely to be rejected by peers than OI children (Yeates et al, 2013).…”

Best Friends’ Discussions of Social Dilemmas

“…Drawing on social domain theory (Killen & Rutland, 2011; Smetana, 2011) as well as theory and research about friendships (Keller, 2004; Piaget, 1932; Rubin et al, 2013; Sullivan, 1953), we examined how features such as validation and caring (Sullivan, 1953), conflict, and conflict resolution (Piaget, 1932) were related to young adolescents’ moral reasoning during conversations with friends. Also innovative, the study focused on adolescents’ observed interactions with reciprocally-nominated friends, and used the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Kenny et al, 2006) to account for the interdependence in friends’ reasoning and perceptions of friendship.…”

“…Drawing from both social domain theory (forms of moral and non-moral reasoning; Smetana, 2006) and research and theory on friendships (Rubin, Bowker, McDonald, & Menzer, 2013), we based this study on the supposition that friendship relationships are associated with how youth think about their social worlds. These theoretical orientations shaped our hypotheses about how friends’ perceptions of friendship quality would be related to adolescent moral reasoning.…”

“…Friendships comprise close, voluntary, dyadic relationships characterized by mutual affection and the acknowledgement of the relationship's special status (Rubin et al, 2013; Rubin et al, 2006). Friendships can serve a variety of functions for children and adolescents, including providing support and instrumental aid.…”