The chapter begins with a distinction made between the interactions children have with peers, the relationships they form with peers, and the groups and networks within which peer interactions and relationships occur. From this conceptual overview, a review of relevant theories is presented. Thereafter, a developmental perspective of peer interactions, relationships, and groups is presented covering the periods of infancy, toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. Subsequently, methods and measures pertaining to the study of children's peer experiences are described. Next, we examine factors that may account for peer acceptance and rejection as well as qualitatively rich and poor friendships. Among the factors discussed are included temperament (biological factors), sex of child, parenting, parent-child relationships, and culture. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the extent to which individual differences in peer acceptance, rejection and friendship (prevalence and quality) predict adaptive and maladaptive developmental outcomes and a suggested agenda for future research.


Keywords:

friendship;
peer interactions;
peer relationships;
peer rejection;
social acceptance;
social competence

Peer Interactions, Relationships, and Groups

The universality of Schwartz and Bilsky's (1987) theory of the psychological content and structure of human values was examined with data from Australia, Finland, Hong Kong, Spain, and the United States

Toward a theory of the universal content and structure of values: Extensions and cross-cultural replications.

The authors argue that attribution patterns reflect implicit theories acquired from induction and socialization and hence differentially distributed across human cultures. In particular, the authors tested the hypothesis that dispositionalism in attribution for behavior reflects a theory of social behavior more widespread in individualist than collectivist cultures

/pdf/culture-and-cause-american-and-chinese-attributions-for-4iumbbx7h2.pdf

Culture and Cause: American and Chinese Attributions for Social and Physical Events

A survey of Chinese values was constructed and administered to university students in 22 countries around the world. An ecological factor analysis was run on the culture means for the 40 scale items and revealed four dimensions of cultural valuing. In a search for validities, country scores on these four factors were correlated with those derived from a Western survey of work-related values by Hofstede (1980). Three of the factors from the Chinese Value Survey (CVS) correlated at high levels with three of Hofstede's four, strongly suggesting the robust value dimensions of collectivism and compassion. The second CVS factor, Confucian work dynamism, was unrelated to any of Hofstede's, but correlated .70 with economic growth from 1965 to 1984. This validational evidence confirms the potential of instruments developed outside a Western cultural tradition for opening up new theoretical vistas to the attention of behavioral scientists.

Chinese Values and the Search for Culture-Free Dimensions of Culture

Socially withdrawn children frequently refrain from social activities in the presence of peers. The lack of social interaction in childhood may result from a variety of causes, including social fear and anxiety or a preference for solitude. From early childhood through to adolescence, socially withdrawn children are concurrently and predictively at risk for a wide range of negative adjustment outcomes, including socio-emotional difficulties (e.g., anxiety, low self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and internalizing problems), peer difficulties (e.g., rejection, victimization, poor friendship quality), and school difficulties (e.g., poor-quality teacher-child relationships, academic difficulties, school avoidance). The goals of the current review are to (a) provide some definitional, theoretical, and methodological clarity to the complex array of terms and constructs previously employed in the study of social withdrawal; (b) examine the predictors, correlates, and consequences of child and early-adolescent soc...

/pdf/social-withdrawal-in-childhood-2x3lw1cx8u.pdf

Social withdrawal in childhood

Publisher Summary The fundamental fact of Confucianism is that it is a secular social theory, the purpose of which is to achieve a harmonious society. This chapter discusses the structural pattern of Chinese attitudes and behavior by analyzing the Confucian paradigm of man. There are different articulations of Confucian theory of society and the individual. Most of the literature depicts Confucianism as a social theory and a social force that tends to mold the Chinese into group-oriented or family-oriented and socially dependent beings. This view has a good deal of sociological truth and has been more or less borne out to date by empirical studies. The Confucian paradigm of man has the theoretical thrust as well as a built-in structural imperative to develop a person into a relation-oriented individual who is not only socially responsive and dependent but is also capable of asserting a self-directed role in constructing a social world. However, this feature of Confucianism has been relatively neglected in theoretical analyses and has been unexplored in empirical research.

The Confucian Paradigm of Man: A Sociological View

Coping with the threat of westernization in Hong Kong

The present study takes Confucian entrepreneurs as an entry point to portray the dynamics and problems involved in the process of putting moral precepts into practice, a central issue in business ethics. Confucian entrepreneurs are defined as the owners of manufacturing or business firms who harbor the moral values of Confucianism. Other than a brief account of their historical background, 41 subjects from various parts of Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were selected for in-depth interviews. By studying the moral choices they made in the market, it was discovered that, contrary to the prevalent mode of inquiry in economics either to reduce all social phenomena to rational calculations or to consider moral actions in terms of utilitarian values, their economic action cannot be accounted for by the postulate of utility maximization, and that the efforts to do business according to their moral principles can be very costly. The study also attempts to document how these Confucian entrepreneurs reconciled the conflict between the moral values they cherished and the instrumental goals they pursued, and will seek to uncover how they responded when faced with this dilemma.

Righteousness and Profitableness: The Moral Choices of Contemporary Confucian Entrepreneurs

On Zhongyong Rationality: The Confucian Doctrine of the Mean as a Missing Link between Instrumental Rationality and Communicative Rationality

As a major source of social values in East Asia, Confucianism assumes especial significance amidst the proliferation of instrumental rationality in modern societies. This study attempts to answer the question: how Confucian are contemporary Chinese? By way of constructing an ideal type of Confucian actors, which is then applied to a survey of three Chinese communities, this study tries to formulate a new perspective in depicting the character of modern Confucian actors, measured in terms of their dynamic proximity to the Confucian ideal type. Our approach marks a shift of emphasis, both empirically and methodologically, compared with previous work on this topic. On the empirical side, our study breaks with the long-standing, classical distinction between the 'gentleman' and the 'commoner' prevalent in Confucian discourse. Degrees of proximity to Confucian values are viewed in representational—i.e. non-evaluative—terms. In constructing the ideal type of Confucian actors, we distinguish between formal and substantive values in Confucianism. This analytical distinction allows our study to demonstrate the continued relevance of Confucianism. While substantive values change over time, the formal, analytical core that captures the essence of Confucianism continues to survive in the face of the vicissitudes of modernity and the spread of instrumental rationality.

Ambrose Yeo-Chi King

Papers

The Confucian Paradigm of Man: A Sociological View

Coping with the threat of westernization in Hong Kong

Righteousness and Profitableness: The Moral Choices of Contemporary Confucian Entrepreneurs

On Zhongyong Rationality: The Confucian Doctrine of the Mean as a Missing Link between Instrumental Rationality and Communicative Rationality

How Confucian are Contemporary Chinese? Construction of an Ideal Type and its Application to Three Chinese Communities