Showing papers on "Peer group published in 1985"

Children's loneliness: A comparison of rejected and neglected peer status.

Abstract: Recent research indicates that a considerable number of children report extreme feelings of lonelines andthat unpopular children are more lonely than popular children. TJie present study assessed feelings of loneliness/in two subgroups of.unpopular children; those who 'were rejected (low on positive and high on negative peer nominations) and those who were neglected (low on both positive and negative peer nominations).'Dafta on pdular, average, and controversial children were also collected. I3esults from 200 thirdthrough sixVh-grade children 'indicated_ that' rejected children were the most lonely group and that popul9r children were the least lonely. Neglected., average, and controversial.children reported intermediate levels. Overall, the results provided added evidence of , the utility of the distinction between neglected and rejected status and support earlier conclusions' that rejected children are more at-risk than other status groups. (Author/RH)

The multidimensionality of peer pressure in adolescence.

Abstract: A sample of 689 adolescents (grades 7-12) from two Midwestern communities who had been identified by peers as members of one of three major peer groups responded to a self-report survey measuring perceptions of peer pressure in five areas of behavior: involvement with peers, school involvement, family involvement, conformity to peer norms, and misconduct. Perceived pressures toward peer involvement were particularly strong, whereas peer pressures concerning misconduct were relatively ambivalent. Perceived pressures toward misconduct increased across grade levels and pressures to conform to peer norms diminished; grade differences in perceived peer pressures concerning family involvement were community specific. Compared to druggie-toughs, jock-populars perceived stronger peer pressures toward school and family involvement, and less pressure toward (stronger pressure against) misconduct; patterns of perceived pressure among loners were more variable across communities. Results elaborated the process of peer influence in adolescent socialization and identity development.

Biological maturation and social development: A longitudinal study of some adjustment processes from mid-adolescence to adulthood

Abstract: The role of biological maturity in behaviors in adolescence which most often are considered as negative by adults was investigated for a normal group of girls. In mid-adolescence early matured girls were found to play truant, smoke hashish, get drunk, pilfer, ignore parents' prohibitions, considerably more often than did late maturing girls. These differences between biological age groups were mediated by the association with older peer groups and they leveled out in late adolescence. Data on alcohol consumption and crime at adult age showed little association with biological maturation. A hypothesis was tested suggesting that early biological maturation may have negative long-term consequences within the education domain. In accord with this assumption, a considerably smaller percentage of girls among the early maturers had a theoretical education above the obligatory nine-year compulsory schooling than among the late maturing girls. The association between biological maturation and adult education was significant also after controlling for standard predictors of education, such as the girls' intelligence and the social status of the home. The requirement of conducting longitudinal studies when investigating issues connected with maturation was strongly emphasized.

Increasing handicapped preschoolers' peer social interactions: cross-setting and component analysis.

Abstract: The purposes of our study were: (a) to train a set of observationally determined social behaviors via peer initiation; (b) to determine if effects generalized across classroom settings and to directly intervene if generalization did not occur; and (c) to analyze components of the peer-initiation intervention. After baseline, nonhandicapped preschool children (confederates) were taught to direct social initiations to the three handicapped preschool-aged students. Teachers prompted the confederates to engage the students in social interaction when necessary and rewarded the confederates with tokens. Confederates' initiations to the students resulted in increased frequencies of positive social interaction. There was no generalization to other classroom settings, and the intervention was subsequently implemented in a second and third classroom. Next, the confederates' token reinforcement system was withdrawn, with no apparent deleterious effects on the confederates' or students' social interactions. When teachers substantially reduced their prompts to the confederates, students' social interactions decreased. Finally, reinstatement of teacher prompts resulted in increases in the confederates' social initiations and, consequently, the positive social interactions of the students.

Social Learning Intervention to Promote Metabolic Control in Type I Diabetes Mellitus: Pilot Experiment Results

Abstract: Patients with type I, or insulin-dependent, diabetes mellitus (IDDM) must comply with a complex behavioral regimen to control their diabetes. Compliance is often poor in teenage patients who are adversely influenced by peers. During a diabetes summer school, we randomly assigned 21 IDDM patients to one of two groups. One group participated in daily social-learning exercises designed to improve social skills and the ability to resist peer influence. The second group spent an equal amount of time learning medical facts about diabetes care. Four months after the intervention, hemoglobin A1 was significantly lower in the social skills intervention group. A variety of variables were significantly correlated with good metabolic control. These included self-reported compliance with a diabetes regimen and attitudes toward self-care. Unexpectedly, variables correlated with poor diabetes control included social problem-solving ability and satisfaction with social support.

Self-image and social-image factors in adolescent alcohol use

Abstract: To investigate the social image of adolescent drinking, high-school students were asked to rate slides of drinking and nondrinking peer models. The image was ambivalent, with both social liabilities and possible social benefits (including toughness and precocity). This image was then related to adolescent drinking behavior. It was hypothesized that adolescents might be more likely to drink if their self-concepts were consistent with a drinking image (consistency theory), if their ideal self-concepts were consistent with a drinking image (self-enhancement) or if their friends admired a drinking image (impression management). Analyses of subjects' current drinking behavior supported both the consistency and self-enhancement hypotheses. Moreover, boys' intentions to drink in the future were related to consistency and impression-management variables (controlling for current drinking). Girls' intentions were not related to any of these self-image and social-image factors. Implications for adolescent alcohol use and misuse are discussed.

Behavior problems of peer-neglected and peer-rejected elementary-age children: parent and teacher perspectives.

Abstract: Rejected, neglected, popular, and average-status children were selected on the basis of positive and negative sociometric measures from a total sample of 870 8- and 11-year-old children. Teachers completed the School Behavior Checklist and parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist for selected children. No age or sex differences were found. On both scales, rejected children were found to exhibit more behavior problems than neglected, popular, or average children. Neglected children did not exhibit more behavior problems than children of average status.

The variability of drinking patterns and problems among young men, age 16-31: a longitudinal study.

Abstract: This paper utilizes a longitudinal design to explore the relationship between problem drinking in adolescence and problem drinking in later life. Specifically, the issues investigated include the degree to which there is a continuity or lack of continuity of involvement in a particular pattern of drinking between adolescence and young adulthood, and an assessment of the usefulness of adolescent correlates of drinking for understanding adult patterns of drinking. The results indicate that there is little continuity in drinking behavior across time, and that while an explanatory model using as independent variables the impact of negative peers, family social class, family support, and high school success is successful in predicting alcohol involvement at age 18, this model is of little utility in predicting alcohol involvement at age 31.

Correlates of peer-related social competence of developmentally delayed preschool children.

Abstract: The peer-related social interactions of 33 developmentally delayed preschool children were examined. Measures of social participation and individual social behaviors were obtained during free-play periods and correlated with assessments of language development, MA, and teacher-rated social competence and behavior problems. Results suggested the existence of major deficits in peer-related social interactions for delayed children and the absence of specific individual social behaviors highly associated with peer-related social competence. Mental age was positively correlated with social play but unrelated to not playing at all. Although language comprehension was related to social interaction, expressive language did not correlate with any of the key measures. Teacher-rated behavior problems were associated with not playing, even when MA was controlled. Findings were discussed in terms of the congruence between the developmental processes of normally developing and delayed children as well as their clinical implications.

The Cultural Context of Gender Segregation in Children's Peer Groups.

Abstract: Recent American research has explored developmental trends in gender segregation of children's peer groups. It is important to differentiate, however, systematic trends in children from systematic changes in their environments. Observational data are presented from 152 rural Kenyan children ages 18 months to 9 years. There is no gender segregation in peer groups until around age 6, at which time changes in settings, parental expectations, and customary duties result in an increase in the proportion of same-sex peers. Even within this pattern, however, there is some evidence that children do not interact more with same-sex peers, given their greater presence. A contrast is drawn with the adult pattern of gender segregation and emphasis is given to the importance of culture and development as interactive systems.

Formal versus informal sources of sex education: competing forces in the sexual socialization of adolescents.

Abstract: This paper points out some of the limitations of formal sex education especially when contrasted with the influence of informal sources. It also examines some of the plausible reasons for the lack of success of sex education and reviews literature which suggests that the informal sources of sexual socialization especially television may dilute the impact of school programs. The new sex education of the 1970s and 1980s is characterized by the impartial teaching of factual information nonjudmental discussion and values clarification. The purpose is to promote healthy sexual relationships encourage responsible decision making and reduce the incidence of unintented teenage pregnancies and sexually trasmitted diseases. Very young teens may be too cognitively immature to engage in the logical premeditated thought process necessary for sexual behavior responsibility. The sexual socialization process is very complex and is influenced by many factors other than classroom instruction. The major sources of informal sex education--parents and television--have increased in importance as sexual information sources. Studies show that young people spend more time watching television than participating in any other activity except sleeping. More importantly heavy television viewers tend to believe that what they see on television represents reality; television may play a very influential role in sexual socialization. The National Federation for Decency reports that on prime time television 89% of all sex is presented outside of marriage. When evidence from studies of social learning and observational learning is related to sex on television the results will show that young people are influenced by the sexual behavior of their favorite characters. Sexuality educators must recognize that their brief and frequently remedial programs cannot in isolation counteract the barrage of negative sexual messages from negative sexual models; in order to enhance responsible adolescent sexual behavior parents and educators need to consider informal sources and deal with them constructively.

Adolescent vulnerability to posttraumatic stress disorder.

Abstract: This study found that men who developed posttraumatic stress disorder after combat in Vietnam tended to have been adolescents while in combat. They had formed an intense attachment to other men in their combat unit, which had been disrupted by the death of a buddy. This loss generally was followed by acts of revenge and subsequent feelings of a profound lack of control over their destiny. Adolescents use their peer group as an intermediary stage between dependency on their family and emotional maturity, and the army, particularly under battlefield conditions, maximizes the impact of peer group cohesion. For these younger men, the death of a friend was experienced as the dissolution of the once omnipotent group and as a narcissistic injury. Group psychotherapy for Vietnam veterans allows the partial re-creation of the peer group in the context in which the trauma occurred. The sharing and reliving of common experiences may facilitate entrance into the world of adult relationships, a process that was arrested by the trauma.

Teaching functional community skills to autistic children using nonhandicapped peer tutors

Abstract: In this study, two autistic children were paired with normal peers who, after pretraining sessions, taught community skills to the autistic children. Data were collected during three conditions: baseline, modeling, and peer tutoring. Results demonstrated that no identified skills were acquired during the baseline and modeling conditions. However, direct instruction of each child by a peer tutor resulted in the learning and maintenance of functional community skills.

Training prosocial behaviors to young children: an analysis of reciprocity with untrained peers.

Abstract: We examined the effects of a social skills training package on the play behaviors of three young girls. Two children were taught to invite their peers to play and to use social amenities during their conversations with other children. A combined reversal and multiple baseline across responses design demonstrated that both children directed more social behaviors to their classroom peers after training and that these two children's play invitations were maintained in the later absence of experimental contingencies. In addition, both target children received a greater number of play invitations from their peers during the free play periods. In contrast, a third child's play invitations were not reciprocated by peers; her invitations subsequently decreased in rate after training was discontinued. An interdependent group contingency produced a reciprocal exchange of invitations between this child and her classroom peers. A reversal design demonstrated partial maintenance of subject-peer exchanges after the group intervention was discontinued. The results obtained with the three target children suggest that peer reciprocity may facilitate the maintenance of children's play invitations over time.

The Effects of Prior Group Experience, Age, and Familiarity on the Quality and Organization of Preschoolers' Social Relationships.

Abstract: HARPER, LAWRENCE V., and HUIE, KAREN S. The Effects of Prior Group Experience, Age, and Familiarity on the Quality and Organization of Preschoolers' Social Relationships. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1985, 56, 704-717. This study assessed the contributions of familiarity, prior experience, and age to the frequency and degree of social participation of preschoolers. A normative analysis of group differences indicated that sex, age, prior peer-group experience, and familiarity did not interact, and all of them independently affected 3and 4-year-old preschoolers' social play. In addition, we examined the hypotheses that solitary activities represent 1 pole of a continuum of social involvement and that parallel play is an immature variant of peer sociability. Whereas older and experienced children did spend more time interacting with peers and less time alone than did younger children, there were no ageor experience-related differences in parallel play. Ipsative analyses were made of individuals' patterns of social participation, both in terms of patterns of change across weeks of attendance and day-to-day variations in time spent in different degrees of social participation. They failed to support either of the above-mentioned hypotheses. Rather, they suggested that playing alone is an alternative to playing with others, and that when a 3-5-year-old child decides to become involved with age-mates, the degree of social participation may depend more upon age-graded status than social sophistication. Evidence for less time with adults among experienced children and reciprocal relations between interaction with peers and contacts with adults also suggested that experience with peers may affect preschoolers' choices of interactants as much as the quality of their interactions.

Father's influence on his daughter's marijuana use viewed in a mother and peer context.

Abstract: A study of the fathers' impact on their daughters' marijuana use is presented viewed in the context of the mother and the daughters' peer group. Four hundred and three female college student volunteers and their fathers were administered closed-ended questionnaires which included a number of scales assessing various parental and peer characteristics. The results indicated that the domain (set) of paternal variables had a direct impact on daughters' marijuana use independent of the effects of the maternal domain. However, in the case of the peer group, the fathers' effects on daughters' marijuana use were not direct but were mediated through the peer domain. In addition, individual protective (nondrug-conducive) paternal variables served to mitigate the effects of certain maternal and peer risk (drug conductive) factors on the daughters' marijuana use. The findings underscore the importance of identifying those paternal factors that exert an influence on the daughters' marijuana use alone or in combination with other interpersonal (maternal, peer) factors.

Assessing and Strengthening the Impact of Social Support on Mental Health.

Abstract: The author offers social work ers a set of guidelines to as sess the sources and types of social support that people use as first and direct lines of de fense in coping with life events and chronic hardships and to highlight how these direct ties mediate people's access to other supportive peer relation ships. He also suggests that social workers organize sup port groups and workshops both to assess and strengthen the role of network support in protecting and promoting men tal health. ANYONE ENGAGED in clinical so li cial work practice has inevi tably confronted the question of why clients take so long before they come for professional help. This question is usually prompted by feelings on the therapist's part that change could have been more easily effected earlier, when difficulties initially surfaced, when coping responses were still mod ifiable, and when hopes for mastery were high. Indeed, everything profes sionals know about crisis theory sug gests that the optimal timing of in terventions is at the point when the client is actively seeking information and resources in the environment with

Successful rural black adolescents: a psychosocial profile.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate important psychosocial variables associated with the educational development of black adolescents in a southern rural environment. The study explored factors related to academic and social success among rural black adolescents. The focus of the investigation was on identifying psychological and social variables which may successfully influence the transaction between black youth and the rural educational system. Such success variables are important for research because of the traditional emphasis in the social sciences on concepts of deficit in the person-environment interactions of black youth. This article presents a profile of successful black adolescents in a rural school system in the Southeast. The profile was developed from personal interviews with 68 black students identified by teachers as successful, often despite social or economic hardship. The implications for future research and rural educational policy and program from the profile are discussed.

Peer pressure and drug use--exploding the myth.

Abstract: "Peer pressure" and "everyone is doing it" have been used as excuses for some drug-taking behavior for too long. We must look harder into reasons for drug use and neither accept these concepts nor teach our young people that this is what is really happening.