Showing papers on "Peer group published in 2008"

Promoting early adolescents' achievement and peer relationships: the effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures.

Abstract: Emphasizing the developmental need for positive peer relationships, in this study the authors tested a social-contextual view of the mechanisms and processes by which early adolescents' achievement and peer relationships may be promoted simultaneously. Meta-analysis was used to review 148 independent studies comparing the relative effectiveness of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures in promoting early adolescents' achievement and positive peer relationships. These studies represented over 8 decades of research on over 17,000 early adolescents from 11 countries and 4 multinational samples. As predicted by social interdependence theory, results indicate that higher achievement and more positive peer relationships were associated with cooperative rather than competitive or individualistic goal structures. Also as predicted, results show that cooperative goal structures were associated with a positive relation between achievement and positive peer relationships. Implications for theory and application are discussed.

A systematic review of peer teaching and learning in clinical education.

Abstract: Aims and objectives. The purpose of this review is to provide a framework for peer teaching and learning in the clinical education of undergraduate health science students in clinical practice settings and make clear the positive and negative aspects of this teaching and learning strategy. Background. The practice of using peers incidentally or purposefully in the clinical education of apprentice or undergraduate health science students is a well-established tradition and commonly practiced, but lacks definition in its implementation. Method. The author conducted a search of health science and educational electronic databases using the terms peer, clinical education and undergraduate. The set limitations were publications after 1980 (2005 inclusive), English language and research papers. Selection of studies occurred: based on participant, intervention, research method and learning outcomes, following a rigorous critical and quality appraisal with a purposefully developed tool. The results have been both tabled and collated in a narrative summary. Results. Twelve articles met the inclusion criteria, representing five countries and four health science disciplines. This review reported mostly positive outcomes on the effectiveness of peer teaching and learning; it can increase student's confidence in clinical practice and improve learning in the psychomotor and cognitive domains. Negative aspects were also identified; these include poor student learning if personalities or learning styles are not compatible and students spending less individualized time with the clinical instructor. Conclusions. Peer teaching and learning is an effective educational intervention for health science students on clinical placements. Preclinical education of students congruent with the academic timetable increases student educational outcomes from peer teaching and learning. Strategies are required prior to clinical placement to accommodate incompatible students or poor student learning. Relevance to clinical practice. The findings from this systematic review, although not statistically significant, do have pragmatic implications for clinical practice. It can increase clinical placement opportunities for undergraduate health students, assist clinical staff with workload pressures and increase clinician time with clients, while further developing students’ knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Gender matters, too: The influences of school racial discrimination and racial identity on academic engagement outcomes among African American adolescents.

Abstract: The authors examined relationships among racial identity, school-based racial discrimination experiences, and academic engagement outcomes for adolescent boys and girls in Grades 8 and 11 (n = 204 boys and n = 206 girls). The authors found gender differences in peer and classroom discrimination and in the impact of earlier and later discrimination experiences on academic outcomes. Racial centrality related positively to school performance and school importance attitudes for boys. Also, centrality moderated the relationship between discrimination and academic outcomes in ways that differed across gender. For boys, higher racial centrality related to diminished risk for lower school importance attitudes and grades from experiencing classroom discrimination relative to boys lower in centrality, and girls with higher centrality were protected against the negative impact of peer discrimination on school importance and academic self-concept. However, among lower race-central girls, peer discrimination related positively to academic self-concept. Finally, socioeconomic background moderated the relationship of discrimination with academic outcomes differently for girls and boys. The authors discuss the need to consider interactions of individual- and contextual-level factors in better understanding African American youths' academic and social development.

School Structural Characteristics, Student Effort, Peer Associations, and Parental Involvement: The Influence of School- and Individual-Level Factors on Academic Achievement

Abstract: This research examines the extent to which individual-level and school structural variables are predictors of academic achievement among a sample of 10th-grade students abstracted from the National Educational Longitudinal Study database. A secondary analysis of the data produced the following findings. The study results show that individual-level predictors, such as student effort, parent—child discussion, and associations with positive peers, play a substantial role in increasing students' achievement. Furthermore, the results also suggest that school climate—in particular, the sense of school cohesion felt by students, teachers, and administrators—is important to successful student outcomes. In total, school structural characteristics were found to have relatively small effects on student achievement when compared with individual-level characteristics. Given these results, interventions aimed at improving academic achievement need take into consideration the impact of individual-level and school struct...

Key Concepts in Childhood Studies

Abstract: Preface to the Second Edition Introduction Age and Maturity Agency Best Interests Child Child-Focused Research /Research with Children Child-Friendly Childhood Child Soldiers Childhood Studies Children as Consumers Children as Researchers Children's Voices Citizenship Competence Cultural Politics of Childhood Cultural Relativism Delinquency Developmental Psychology Developmentalism Disappearance or Loss of Childhood Diversity Ethnicity Familialization Family Friendship Futurity Gender Generation Global Childhood Health Innocence Internet and New Social Media Interpretive Reproduction Minority Group Status Nature vs. Nurture Needs Neglect Parenting Participation Peer Group Play Poverty Protection Representation Resilience Responsibility Rights Schooling and Schools Sexual Abuse Sexualization Social Actor Social Construction Social World Socialization Spaces for Children and Children's Places Standpoint Street Children Structure United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Vulnerability Welfare Work and Working Children Youth

Social and interpersonal factors relating to adolescent suicidality: a review of the literature

Abstract: This article reviews the empirical literature concerning social and interpersonal variables as risk factors for adolescent suicidality (suicidal ideation, suicidal behavior, death by suicide). It also describes major social constructs in theories of suicide and the extent to which studies support their importance to adolescent suicidality. PsychINFO and PubMed searches were conducted for empirical studies focused on family and friend support, social isolation, peer victimization, physical/sexual abuse, or emotional neglect as these relate to adolescent suicidality. Empirical findings converge in documenting the importance of multiple social and interpersonal factors to adolescent suicidality. Research support for the social constructs in several major theories of suicide is summarized and research challenges are discussed.

Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents.

Abstract: Part 1. Introduction. M.J. Prinstein, K.A. Dodge, Current Issues in Peer Influence Research. Part 2. Peer Influence Mechanisms. B.B. Brown, J.P. Bakken, S.W. Ameringer, S.D. Mahon, A Comprehensive Conceptualization of the Peer Influence Process in Adolescence. F.X. Gibbons, E.A. Pomery, M. Gerrard, Cognitive Social Influence: Moderation, Mediation, Modification, and...the Media. T.J. Dishion, T.F. Piehler, M.W. Myers, Dynamics and Ecology of Adolescent Peer Influence. H. Blanton, M. Burkley, Deviance Regulation Theory: Applications to Adolescent Social Influence. Part 3. Altering Peer Influence Effects: Moderators and Interventions. W.M. Bukowski, A.M. Velasquez, M. Brendgen, Variation in Patterns of Peer Influence: Considerations of Self and Other. J.P. Allen, J. Antonishak, Adolescent Peer Influences: Beyond the Dark Side. D.A. Prentice, Mobilizing and Weakening Peer Influence as Mechanisms for Changing Behavior: Implications for Alcohol Intervention Programs. J. Berger, Identity Signaling, Social Influence, and Social Contagion. Part 4. Underexplored Contexts for Potential Peer Influence Effects. W. Furman, V.A. Simon, Homophily in Adolescent Romantic Relationships. J. Juvonen, A. Galvan, Peer Influence in Involuntary Social Groups: Lessons from Research on Bullying.

The effect of peer feedback for blogging on college students' reflective learning processes

Abstract: Reflection is an important prerequisite to making meaning of new information, and to advance from surface to deep learning. Strategies such as journal writing and peer feedback have been found to promote reflection as well as deep thinking and learning. This study used an empirical design to investigate the interaction effects of peer feedback and blogging on college students' reflective thinking skills and their learning approaches. Forty-four first- and second-year undergraduate students participated in the study. Students kept blogs each week throughout a whole semester. Two journals were sampled at the beginning and end of the semester for each student. A repeated measure one-way ANOVA suggested that students' reflective thinking level increased significantly over time; however, peer feedback was found to negatively affect students' reflective thinking skills. The result of the study suggests more carefully designed uses in the future.

Adolescent Self-Regulation as Resilience : Resistance to Antisocial Behavior within the Deviant Peer Context

Abstract: This study tests the hypothesis that self-regulation serves as a resiliency factor in buffering youth from negative influences of peer deviance in middle to late adolescence. The interactive effects between peer deviance and self-regulation were investigated on change in antisocial behavior from age 17 to 19 years in an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents. A multi-agent construct was created using adolescent, parent, and teacher reports of self-regulation and peer deviance. Results indicated that self-regulation shows convergent validity and covaries as expected with developmental patterns of adolescent antisocial behavior. Self-regulation moderated the association of peer deviance with later self-reported adolescent antisocial behavior after controlling for prior levels of antisocial behavior. The implications of these findings for models for the development of antisocial behaviors and for intervention science are discussed.

Beyond the Class Norm: Bullying Behavior of Popular Adolescents and its Relation to Peer Acceptance and Rejection

Abstract: This study examined to what extent bullying behavior of popular adolescents is responsible for whether bullying is more or less likely to be accepted or rejected by peers (popularity-norm effect) rather than the behavior of all peers (class norm). Specifically, the mean level of bullying by the whole class (class norm) was split into behavior of popular adolescents (popularity-norm) and behavior of non-popular adolescents (non-popularity-norm), and examined in its interaction with individual bullying on peer acceptance and peer rejection. The data stem from a peer-nominations subsample of TRAILS, a large population-based sample of adolescent boys and girls (N = 3312). The findings of multilevel regression analyses demonstrated that the negative impact of individual bullying on peer acceptance and the positive impact on peer rejection were particularly weakened by bullying by popular adolescents. These results place the class-norm effects found in previous person-group dissimilarity studies in a different light, suggesting that particularly bullying by popular adolescents is related to the social status attached to bullying.

Peer victimization, depression, and suicidiality in adolescents.

Abstract: The association between specific types of peer victimization with depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts among adolescents was examined. A self-report survey was completed by 2,342 high-school students. Regression analyses indicated that frequent exposure to all types of peer victimization was related to high risk of depression, ideation, and attempts compared to students not victimized. Infrequent victimization was also related to increased risk, particularly among females. The more types of victimization the higher the risk for depression and suicidality among both genders. Specific types of peer victimization are a potential risk factor for adolescent depression and suicidality. It is important to assess depression and suicidality among victimized students in order to develop appropriate intervention methods.

Predictive validity and early predictors of peer-victimization trajectories in preschool.

Abstract: Context From the time of school entry, chronic levels of victimization by one's peers predict a multitude of psychiatric and physical health problems. However, developmental trajectories of peer victimization, from the time children first begin to socially interact, are not currently known nor are early familial or child predictors. Objectives To describe preschool trajectories of peer victimization, assess continuity of preschool victimization after school entry, and examine early child- and family-level predictors of preschool trajectories of victimization. Design A longitudinal, large-scale, multiple-informant, population-based study. Setting Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Participants One thousand nine hundred seventy children (51% boys). Main outcome measures Developmental trajectories were described using mothers' reports of peer victimization at 4 times from 3(1/3) to 6(1/6) years of age. In first grade (mean age, 7.2 years), teacher and child reports of peer victimization were collected. Family-level predictors, mostly at age 17 months, included measurements of family adversity (insufficient income [when the infant was aged 5 months], single-parent family, low education, or teenaged mother) and harsh, reactive parenting. Child-level predictors at age 17 months were the mother's ratings of physical aggression, hyperactivity, and emotional problems. Results Three preschool trajectories of peer victimization were identified (low/increasing, moderate/increasing, and high/chronic). In first grade, children following high/chronic and moderate/increasing preschool trajectories were highest in teacher- and child-rated peer victimization. High levels of harsh, reactive parenting predicted high/chronic peer victimization over and above other child- and family-level variables. Insufficient parent income and child physical aggression predicted the high/chronic and moderate/increasing peer-victimization trajectories. Conclusions Early childhood preventive interventions should target parenting skills and child behaviors, particularly within families with insufficient income. Together, these risks confer a heightened likelihood for continued peer victimization as rated by mothers, teachers, and the children themselves.

Help-seeking before and after episodes of self-harm: a descriptive study in school pupils in England.

Abstract: Deliberate self-harm in young people is a cause for concern in many countries. The vast majority of episodes of self-harm do not result in presentation to hospital and relatively little is known about to whom or where adolescents who harm themselves go for help. This school-based survey of 5,293 15–16 year olds in the United Kingdom investigated sources of help and barriers to help seeking before and after an episode of self-harm. Friends (40%) and family (11%) were the main sources of support. Far fewer adolescents had sought help from formal services or health professionals. Barriers to help seeking include perceptions of self-harm as something done on the spur of the moment and therefore not serious or important or to be dwelt upon. Many adolescents felt they should be able to, or could cope on their own and feared that seeking help would create more problems for them and hurt people they cared about or lead to them being labelled as an 'attention seeker'. The decision to seek help was in some cases hampered by not knowing whom to ask for help. Gender and exposure to self-harm in the peer group influenced perceived barriers to help-seeking. There are both push and pull factors' acting on young people in their understanding of what leads them to want to harm themselves and potential mechanisms for seeking help. The implications for community based prevention programmes are discussed.

Gene-environment correlation and interaction in peer effects on adolescent alcohol and tobacco use.

Abstract: Peer relationships are commonly thought to be critical for adolescent socialization, including the development of negative health behaviors such as alcohol and tobacco use. The interplay between genetic liability and peer influences on the development of adolescent alcohol and tobacco use was examined using a nationally-representative sample of adolescent sibling pairs and their best friends. Genetic factors, some of them related to an adolescent’s own substance use and some of them independent of use, were associated with increased exposure to best friends with heavy substance use—a gene-environment correlation. Moreover, adolescents who were genetically liable to substance use were more vulnerable to the adverse influences of their best friends—a gene-environment interaction.

Recent Evaluations of the Peer-Led Approach in Adolescent Sexual Health Education: A Systematic Review

Abstract: CONTEXT: Peer-led interventions have become a popular method of providing sexual health education to adolescents, but the efficacy of this approach and the methodological quality of recent trials have not been systematically reviewed. METHODS: Electronic and hand searches were conducted to identify quasi-randomized and randomized controlled trials of peer-led adolescent sexual health education published from 1998 to 2005. Studies were eligible if they had an appropriate comparison group, provided preintervention and postintervention data, and reported all outcomes. Study results were summarized and, where appropriate, pooled; in addition, 10 aspects of studies' methodological quality were assessed. RESULTS: Thirteen articles met the inclusion criteria. Pooled, adjusted results from seven trials that examined the effects of peer-led interventions on condom use at last sex found no overall benefit (odds ratio, 1.0). None of the three trials that assessed consistent condom use found a benefit. One study reported a reduced risk of chlamydia (0.2), but another found no impact on STI incidence. One study found that young women (but not young men) who received peer-led education were more likely than nonrecipients to have never had sex. Most interventions produced improvements in knowledge, attitudes and intentions. Only three studies fulfilled all 10 of the assessed quality criteria; two others met nine criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Despite promising results in some trials, overall findings do not provide convincing evidence that peer-led education improves sexual outcomes among adolescents. Future trials should build on the successful trials conducted to date and should strive to fulfill existing quality criteria.

Negative Peer Perceptions of Obese Children in the Classroom Environment

Abstract: Objective: It is asserted that the more immediate and observable consequences of pediatric obesity are psychosocial in nature. This study examines the peer relations of clinically referred obese youth compared to demographically comparable nonoverweight peers within the classroom environment. Methods and Procedures: Peer-, teacher-, and self-reports of behavioral reputation (Revised Class Play (RCP)), and peer reports of social acceptance, nonsocial attributes (attractiveness, athleticism, academic competence), and health interference (school absence, illness, fatigue) were obtained regarding 90 obese youth (BMI > 95th percentile; 8–16 years, 57% girls, 50% African American) and 76 nonoverweight demographically similar comparison classmates. Results: Relative to comparison peers, obese children were nominated significantly less often as a best friend and rated lower in peer acceptance, although the two groups did not differ in the number of reciprocated friendships. Obese youth were described by peer, teacher, and self-report as more socially withdrawn and by peers as displaying less leadership and greater aggressive-disruptive behavior. Peers also described obese youth as less physically attractive, less athletic, more sick, tired, and absent from school. Being seen as less attractive and less athletic by peers helped to explain differences in obese and nonoverweight youth's levels of peer acceptance. Discussion: Clinically referred obese youth are characterized by peer relations that differ from those of nonoverweight youth. The peer environment provides a rich context to understand the social consequences of pediatric obesity as well as factors that could be targeted in intervention to promote more positive health and psychosocial outcomes.

Peer Groups, Popularity, and Social Preference Trajectories of Social Functioning Among Students With and Without Learning Disabilities

Abstract: The extant literature on the social functioning of students with learning disabilities (LD) has indicated that whereas a majority belong to peer groups, a higher proportion are isolated and most have lower social status among peers in general than their typically achieving classmates. Although some work has examined these issues over short-term longitudinal studies, none to date have examined them over extensive time periods. Toward this end, the current study examined a sample of 1,361 students (678 girls and 683 boys; 55 with LD) using multiple measures of peer social functioning assessed each semester from spring of third grade through fall of sixth grade. The results indicated that whereas students with LD were similar to their typically achieving peers in terms of group functioning and characteristics, they were viewed as lower in social standing among their classmates as a whole. These effects were maintained over time, indicating that long-term inclusion may not substantially affect peer social functioning among students with LD.

Peer problems in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: current status and future directions.

Abstract: This article extends previous reviews regarding the peer problems of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in several ways. In addition to summarizing past and current literature regarding the social behaviors of children with ADHD, these behaviors are discussed in terms of subtype and gender differences and treatment implications. Given limited effectiveness of treatment options, whether it be medication, behavioral modification, or social skills training, there is a need to examine additional factors that may contribute to the social impairment of children with ADHD. Therefore, this review focuses on potential neuropsychological deficits, biased perceptions of social ability, and deficits in encoding and processing social information that may contribute to the social impairment of children with ADHD. These topics are discussed both in terms of their contribution to our understanding of the peer problems of children with ADHD and as potential avenues for future research.

“They Like Me, They Like Me Not”: Popularity and Adolescents’ Perceptions of Acceptance Predicting Social Functioning Over Time

Abstract: This study examined the dual roles of adolescents' perceptions of social acceptance and sociometric popularity in predicting relative changes over time in adolescents' social functioning. Observational, self-report, and peer report data were obtained from 164 adolescents who were interviewed at age 13 years and then again at age 14 years, as well as their same-sex close friends. Adolescents who felt positively about their own social standing fared well over time, regardless of their level of sociometric popularity. Further, low popularity was particularly problematic for adolescents who failed to see themselves as fitting in. Results suggest that during adolescence, when it becomes increasingly possible for teens to choose their own social niches, it is possible to be socially successful without being broadly popular.

Intergroup Attitudes and Relations in Childhood Through Adulthood

Abstract: 1. Intergroup Attitudes and Relations in Childhood Through Adulthood: An Introduction SECTION I: THE FORMATION OF INTERGROUP ATTITUDES AND RELATIONSHIPS 2. Children's subjective identification with social groups 3. Peer Group Rejection and Children's Intergroup Prejudice 4. The Development of Subjective Group Dynamics 5. Gender Stereotyping and Prejudice in Young Children: A Developmental Intergroup Perspective 6. The Development of Intergroup Social Cognition: Early Emergence, Implicit Nature, and Sensitivity to Group Status SECTION II: SOCIAL EVALUATION AND REASONING ABOUT INTERGROUP ATTITUDES AND RELATIONSHIPS 7. Intergroup attitudes and reasoning about social exclusion in majority and minority children in Spain 8. Explicit Judgments and Implicit Bias: A Developmental Perspective 9. A Social-Developmental Perspective on Lay Theories and Intergroup Relations 10. Multiculturalism and group evaluations among minority and majority groups 11. The Multifaceted Nature of Sexual Prejudice: How Adolescents Reason about Sexual Orientation and Sexual Prejudice SECTION III: FOSTERING CHANGE IN INTERGROUP ATTITUDES AND RELATIONSHIPS 12. An Integrative Approach to Changing Children's Intergroup Attitudes 13. The Common Ingroup Identity Model: Applications to Children and Adults 14. A Mutual Acculturation Model for Understanding and Undermining Prejudice Among Adolescents 15. The Role of Intergroup Contact in Predicting Children's Interethnic Attitudes: Evidence from Meta-Analytic and Field Studies 16. Intergroup Name-Calling and Conditions for Creating Assertive Bystanders

Reflecting peer-support groups in the prevention of stress and burnout: randomized controlled trial

Abstract: AIM: This paper is a report of a study to test the effect of participating in a reflecting peer-support group on self-reported health, burnout and on perceived changes in work conditions.BACKGROUND ...

Peer Influence on Children's Physical Activity: An Experience Sampling Study

Abstract: on their activity intensity and whether the activity was solitary or with others for seven consecutive days. Results Children were more likely to report more intense physical activity when in the company of peers or close friends. Overweight children reported greater physical activity when in the presence of peers than did lean children; however, overweight children also reported more time spent alone. Conclusions Taken together, findings highlight the importance of considering peer relationships in studies of physical activity and childhood ‘‘obesity.’’