Child Development - Chapter 13

Signs of a friendship up to 2 years of age.

- 12-18 month olds show preference for certain peers over others. - They engage more often in positive exchanges such as smiling, touching. - They are more likely to try to comfort a "preferred" peer than another, when they show distress.

Long-term costs of having friends

- Antisocial, aggressive kids who are friends may reinforce these behaviours in one another by making them seem acceptable. - In adolescence, peers who hold higher social status have a greater influence on their friends' antisocial behaviours and drugs/alcohol use. - Evidence shows that adolescents tend to select friends who are similar to themselves in terms of drinking and substance use. - Teens who start drinking and smoking tend to have a friends who already does so. - Genetic make up may also explain why teens who are more inclined to take risky behaviour are drawn to one another as friends. - Parent-child relationship also plays a role in adolescents use of drugs, if peers are users. When the relationship is warm and understanding, there is a smaller chance they will succumb to peer pressure.

Signs of a friendship between 2 and school years.

- At 2, children develop abilities such as imitating peers and other people's social behaviour. - They engage more often in pretend play with preferred peers. - They are also more likely to fight or dispute with preferred peers, but will engage in non-violente problem solving when disputes arise if they are arguing with a preferred peer (friend). - After conflict is resolved, friends are more likely to resume positive interactions and have positive feelings for one another.

Parenting style and Peer Relationships

- Authoritative, warm, responsive parents tend to have kids who are socially well adjusted, probably because they are better at self-regulating. - Authoritarian parents tend to have unpopular, victimized children. - Difficult to imply that parenting style is the CAUSE of social competency, or if it could be genetic factors influencing both parenting style and social behaviour. - Most likely it is bidirectional, circling interaction. - Parents of socially competent children tend to take a more active role in teaching social skills and to believe those skills can actually be taught.

Romantic relationships with peers

- Being in a romantic relationship is important for a sense of belonging and status in the peer group. - In late adolescence; feelings of self-worth and competence. - Can improve functioning in adolescents who are prone to depression or aggression. - Early dating and sexual activity: related to problem behaviour, drinking, drug use, emotional difficulties. - Girls are more susceptible to breakups, feeling more rejection and anxiety. - Quality of romantic relationships appears to mirror the quality of their other relationships. - Securely attached adolescents tended to have better romantic relationships going into early adulthood.

Cross-cultural Sociometric Status

- Children in each Status tend to have similar characteristics in many cultures. - Differences: a. Shy children tend to be well-liked instead of rejected, in Chinese cultures.

Sociometric status - Neglected

- Children who are not cited frequently as either LIKED or DISLIKED; simply not noticed. - Less sociable and less disruptive than average children, and tend to avoid situations that involve aggression. - Perceive less support from peers. - Not particularly anxious about social interactions.

Victimized Status

- Children who are targets of their peer's aggression and demeaning behaviour. - tend to be rejected at first, and then victimized. - Tend to be: aggressive, withdrawn, anxious. - Immigrant children more likely to be victimized. - Children's temperament may also contribute to becoming victimized: low self-regulation, aggression. - Result in further aggression, withdrawal, depression and loneliness; absenteeism, delinquent behaviour. - Risk factors: anxiety, low quality friendships.

Parent's Coaching and Peer Relationships

- Children whose parents coach them on how to interact in the group, with unfamiliar peers, tended to be more socially competent. - Also, parents' coaching on emotional responses, how to deal with emotions, had children who were more likely to use appropriate conflict-resolution strategies. - Coaching should be provided in a sensitive way, convey clear, useful information, along with strategies for dealing with the issue, and presented in a way that doesn't overwhelm the child.

Peer groups in pre-teens and early teens.

- Cliques: start in middle school and become increasingly close-knit going into adolescence. - High rate of turnover: 50%-60% of the members changed over the school year. Membership in a specific clique over time was highly dependent on wether the kids were in the same classroom form one year to the next. - Kids who are dominant in their group tend to display more positive characteristics such as: attractiveness, academic achievement, popularity, cooperation, leadership. - In aggressive groups, the leaders tended to be the most domineering and aggressive.

Characteristic of later school years friendships (9-10)

- Deeper characteristics define what a friend is: more attuned to individual differences. - Friends take care of one another's physical and material needs, share feelings and provide companionship.

Aggressive children: difference between isolated and perceived as "popular" kids.

- Difference is in the social motives for their display of aggression, and in how they process information related to social situations. - Rejected-aggressive motivation: "get even", "show them up"; more likely to see malicious intent in other kids' behaviour towards them. - Rejected-aggressive: may have a less developed Theory of Mind; have more trouble finding constructive solutions to difficult social situations.

Functions of Friendships - Validation and support

- Emotional support and validation of feelings. - Support when the child feels lonely. - Support during transition periods, such as changing schools. - Buffer for unpleasant situations such as being yelled at by a teacher.

Cliques

- Friendship groups that children voluntarily form or join themselves. - Usually 3-10 children - smaller groups. - Usually same gender and race. - What binds them together is the similarities: academic motivation, aggressiveness and bullying; shyness; attractiveness; popularity; adherence to conventional values such as politeness. - Although friends tend to be members of the same clique, not all clique members are close friends.

Gender differences in the functions of friendships

- Girls are more likely to value closeness, self-disclosure, dependency and loyalty in friendships - Girls are more likely to share negative thoughts and feelings with friends, and are more responsive to a friend's distress. - Co-rumination in girls friendships may lead to negative feelings in both sides of the friendship. - Girls experience more anxiety related to friendships. - Boys tend to have longer lasting friendships in adolescence, due to less anxiety related to friendships in general.

Crowds

- Groups of adolescents who have similar stereotyped reputations. Examples: loners, freaks, punks, jocks, etc. - Usually not a chosen membership: assigned to the individual by consensus of the group, even thought the individual may spend little time with that crowd. - Being associated with a crowd may favor or hurt the teenager's reputation and influence how they are treated by other peers.

Friendships and cultural differences

- In Kenya, children don't spend time with peers who aren't family, mostly because they also don't go to school. - The situation is changing as levels of literacy increase. - Boys are usually more free to spend time outside the home with peers than girls, in India. - In cultures that value traditional family values, children are less likely to spend time with peers and less concerned with peer acceptance. - Family expectations of which skills children needed influenced what they teach their kids about social interactions.

Gang

- Loosely organized group of adolescents or young adults who identify as a groups and often engage in illegal activities. - Members of gangs are more likely to engage in delinquency and drug abuse. - Members note that belonging to a gang offers them protection from other gangs.

Sociometric Status

- Measurement of the degree to which children are liked or disliked by their peers as a group. - Most frequently used technique to determine peer status. - Experimenters interview a group of children: 1. Nominate children they like the most. 2. Nominate children they like the least. 3. For each classmate, have child rank them on likability/desirability as a companion. - Classifies children into one of 5 categories: 1. Popular 2. Rejected 3. Controversial 4. Neglected 5. Average

Cliques and Groups in Adolescence

- Membership in a specific group becomes more stable by Grade 10. - Teens may belong to more than one clique. - By Grade 7, 10% of cliques contain boys and girls, and the number increases by high school. - Later in adolescence, belonging to a clique and conforming to its normas becomes less important than in early teen years. - Later, conflict among the members of the groups and between groups also decreases. - Being assigned to a crowd will influence how the individual is treated by the larger peer group and also limits their opportunities for interaction with diverse groups of teens. - Teens assigned to "desirable" crowds tend to have higher self-esteem.

Sociometric status - Controversial

- Nominated both as LIKED and as DISLIKED by many peers. - Mixed characteristics of popular and rejected kids. - Tend to be aggressive, disruptive, prone to anger. - Also: cooperative, sociable, good at sports, humorous. - Very socially active, leaders in their groups. - Viewed by peers as arrogant, snobbish.

Parent's Gatekeeping and Peer Relationships

- Parents who play a more active role as gatekeepers: controlling where the kids go, with whom they play, how much time they spend in peer interactions, tended to foster more socially competent kids at younger ages. - In adolescence, parents cultural values implicated in their roles as gatekeepers in how much they controlled the teen's interactions.

Negative Influences of cliques and crowds

- Potential for peer group influences on problem behaviours is higher for kids wh are more concerned about being accepted. - It also is dependent upon family and cultural influences: authoritative parents offer protection from peer group influence. - In cultures that value independence, peer group pressure is more influential than in interdependent cultures.

Sociometric status - Rejected

- Predominantly nominated as DISLIKED by their peers; few positive nominations. - Tends to be divided into 2 subcategories: overly aggressive children and withdrawn children. 1. Aggressive-Rejected: a. 40% to 50% of rejected kids. b. Hostile, threatening behaviour, physical aggression, disruptive behaviour, delinquency, relational aggression. c. Impossible to know if rejection causes aggression or vice-versa. Studies may reveal that it is a bidirectional, circling relationship. d. Aggressive kids sometimes develop a group of aggressive friends and are accepted within that group. 2. Withdrawn-Rejected: a. 10% to 25% of rejected kids. b. socially withdrawn, wary, socially anxious. c. Frequently victimized by peers, isolated and lonely. d. Active isolates: withdrawn kids who display negative behaviours - most likely to be rejected. e. Socially withdrawn but otherwise socially competent children tend to fall into the "neglected" category. - Aggressive children may eventually become withdrawn due to peer rejection.

Sociometric status - Popular

- Predominantly nominated as LIKED by their peers; very few negative nominations. - Characteristics: a. Skilled at initiating interaction with peers and maintaining positive relationships. b. Cooperative, friendly, sociable, helpful, sensitive to others. c. Good at regulating emotions and behaviour: not prone to intense negative emotions. d. Overall less aggressive (anger related) than rejected children or average children. e. The sociometric label POPULAR does not equate with being perceived as "popular" by their peers.

Characteristic of early school years friendships (6-8)

- Primarily based on concrete activities that they share with friends. - "Best" friends are those who play with you all the time and share everything. - Also view friendships in terms of cost-reward: you help me I help you. - Instrumental and concrete view of friendships.

Functions of Friendships - Development of social and cognitive skills

- Provide context for developing social skills and knowledge. - Children seem to develop more complex types of play in interaction with friends. - Throughout childhood, cooperation and negotiation are more common among friends than non-friends. - Friends interactions allow children to develop an understanding of others' mental states and emotions. - Friendships teach children about peer norms: how, why and when to display or control emotions and behaviours. - Openness of friendships promotes creativity.

Factors influencing choice of firendships

- Proximity - Age similarity (because school segregates them that way; in cultures where they are not segregated by age, kids tend to have friends of different ages) - Gender - Racial/ethnic group (cross-group friendships tend to not last as long as same-group; children with cross-group friends tend to have better self-esteem and be leaders/inclusive in their social relationships; cross-group friendships correlate with later positive attitudes towards people). - Similarity in interests and behaviour.

Rejected peer status and academic performance

- Rejected children are more likely to have academic difficulties, higher absenteeism, lower in-class participation and lower GPA. - Aggressive-rejected: likely to be uninterested in school, and viewed as poor students. - Rejected children also more likely to: drop out of school, repeat a grade, be suspended, or have problems with the law. - Rejected children's drop out rate is 20-30%, against 8% of other status groups.

Stability of Sociometric Status

- Rejected is the most stable status over long term, and may even increase with age. - Popular and controversial kids were the most likely to change status within 2 years. - Average kids were also relatively stable over time.

Characteristic of pre-adolescent friendships.

- Self-disclosure, loyalty and mutual understanding become very important. - A friend is someone you can confide in, and share feelings. - Children will focus on describing the friend's characteristics and how they are similar to their own. - Friendships become increasingly intimate.

Functions of Cliques

- Sense of belonging. - Ready-made pool for socializing. - Validation of shared characteristics. - Being accepted provides a sense of personal affirmation.

Young children's Groups of Friends

- Status patterns emerge as early as in toddler groups: some children are more dominant and central to group activities than others. - Preschool children's groups show a pattern of hierarchy, where certain children prevail over others when there is a conflict.

Cyberbullying

- Study showed about 20% of kids between Grades 6 and 11 had been victims in the past 3 months. - 30% reported engaging in cyberbullying of some kind. - Cyberbullies and victims tend to also be in the same roles offline. - Cyberbullying victims have all the negative psychosocial effects: anxiety, distress, depression, poor anger management, etc. - Being on either end of cyberbullying can correlate with depression and suicidal thoughts.

Social skills training

- Training programs designed to help rejected children gain peer acceptance. - Based on the assumption that rejected children lack important knowledge and skills that promote positive interaction with peers. - Three levels of deficits diagnosed: 1. Lack of social knowledge 2. Performance problems 3. Lack of appropriate monitoring and self-evaluation - Training involves teaching children to better control their behaviour, evaluate social situations and alternatives for reacting to stressful social interactions. - PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies): children learn to identify emotional expressions and to think about causes and consequences of different ways of expressing emotions. - Programs are usually successful in teaching children better social skills, but how they impact status hasn't been studied yet.

Romantic relationships with peers - Choice of partner

- Young teens tend to choose their partners on the basis of status: being stylish or popular. - Middle to late adolescence: other traits such as honesty, kindness, intelligence and interpersonal skills become important. - Older adolescents: compatibility, caring, compromise.

Online interactions influence on existing face-to-face relationships - 2 perspectives

1. Online time steals away opportunities for offline interaction, which impairs the quality of existing friendships. 2. Online interactions enhance the quality of existing friendships because offers them extra time and means of communication. Overall, view #2 has received more support.

Secure attachement promotes 3 social competences.

1. Positive social expectations: inclined to readily interact since they expect these interactions to be positive and rewarding. 2. Understanding reciprocity, since they learned how to relate to a responsive caregiver. Learn to give and take and to be empathic. 3. Likely to be confident, enthusiastic, emotionally positive, all attractive characteristics for peers that facilitate social interactions.

Online Interactions - 2 perspectives

1. Rich-get-richer 2. Social compensation

Functions of Friendships (2)

1. Validation and support 2. Development of social and cognitive skills

Relational aggression

A kind of aggression that involves excluding others from the social group and attempting to do harm to other people's relationships. Includes spreading rumours about peers, withholding friendship to inflict harm, ignoring peers when angry and frustrates and trying to get one's own way.

Rejected peer status and adjustment issues

Aggressive-rejected: - Higher levels of externalizing behaviours such as hyperactivity, ADHD, conduct disorders and delinquency. - Internalizing problems: depression, loneliness, obsessive-compulsive behaviours. Withdrawn-rejected: - Also more prone to internalizing problems, but also to loneliness and low self-esteem. - Tended to stay like that into adulthood: a. Withdrawn BOYS : more likely to not get married or have children, later starters in their careers, with less stability and success. If married, tended to be divorced more often. b. Withdrawn GIRLS: more likely to be stay-at-home wives. Bidirectional relationship: - early maladaptive behaviour predicts rejection later. Rejected kids are denied opportunities to learn how to interact. Rejected kids join as a group and reinforce each other's maladaptive behaviours.

Friendship

An intimate, reciprocated positive relationship between two people. Friends have mutual regard for one another, exhibit give-and-take in their behaviour and benefit in comparable ways from their social exchanges.

How should parents coach their kids on social competence?

Coaching should be provided in a sensitive way, convey clear, useful information, along with strategies for dealing with the issue, and presented in a way that doesn't overwhelm the child.

Family stress and Children's social competence

Children from lower income level families, whose parents experienced high levels of stress exhibited less social competence, had fewer friends and were more likely to be rejected by peers. - It is possible that the effects of poverty and stress on parenting style are reflected in the children's compromised social competence.

Chronic friendlessness correlates with depression and social withdrawal. True or False?

True.

Characteristics of a peer relationship

Equal status Intimacy Cooperation Reciprocity

Family and cultural factors don't seem to affect the degree to which peers' behaviours are associated with adolescents' problem behaviour. True or False?

False. Both family and cultural values are influential.

Long-term benefits of having friends

Having reciprocated best-friendships in preadolescence relates to better social outcomes in middle school and also in early adulthood. (long term positive effects).

Piaget's view on peer interactions.

He believed the equal status among peers make these relationships more open, with open stating of ideas, feedback and criticism, developing explanations and rules for why or how things work or should work. Differently from relationships with parents.

Peers

Individual who are close in age and status. For children, this means it's a more equal relationships in their lives.

Main difference between friendship in pre-school and school years.

Most aspects of friendships becomes more sharply defined going into school years, specially: the importance and the level of intimacy experienced by friends.

"Rich-get-richer" perspective on online interactions

Proposes that those youths who already have good social skills benefit from the Internet and related forms of technology when it comes to developing friendships.

Attachment and Peer Relationships

Securely attached kdis ten to be more successful in peer interactions and to have closer, better quality relationships. Insecurely attached kids tend to have a harder time establishing high quality friendships, to avoid social interactions for fear of being hurt, express less positive emotion and prosocial behaviours.

"Social compensation" perspective on online interactions

Social media and online means of communication may be especially beneficial for lonely, depressed and socially anxious adolescents. Specifically because they can take their time thinking about and revising what they say over messages, they are more likely to make personal disclosures online than offline, which eventually fosters the formation of new friendships.

Vygotsky's ideas on peer interactions.

Suggested that peers learn new skills and develop cognitively as a result of such interactions. He emphasized the ways in which children's working together helps to build new skills and abilities, as well as to convey the knowledge and skills valued by their culture.

Kids who are perceived as popular also tend to show higher levels of aggression and to use aggressive behaviours to attain goals. True or False?

True.

Because children tend to be friends with peers who are similar to them in terms of behaviour and interests, it is difficult to see what does each child bring to the relationship and what is the product of the relationship on their own behaviour. True or False?

True.

Explanations for age-related changes in the concept of friendships for children.

a. Changes are QUALITATIVE / DISCONTINUOUS: Selman and Piaget. - Relate to the evolving capacity to realize that others have different experiences and views of the world. Once they can do that, friendships evolve to be a mutual relationship. b. Changes are related to how capable children are of expressing their views on friendships, not on how they view them. - Stevens and Hartup (1997)