Peers

Why Friendship?

“Positive friendship relationships in adolescence are associated with a host of positive outcomes, including lower rates of delinquency, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, and bullying victimization, and a higher level of academic achievement.” (Santrock, 2014)

“Not having a close relationship or having less contact with friends, or having friends who are suffering from depressed, and experiencing peer rejection - all increase depressive tendencies in adolescents.” (Santrock, 2014)

According to research, interacting with delinquent peers significantly

increases the risk of becoming delinquent.

(Kendrick, Jutengren, & Stattin, 2012; Tucker & others, 2012; Way & Silverman, 2012; Wentzel, 2013; Brendgen & others, 2010; Schwartz-Mette & Rose, 2013; Deutsch & others, 2012).

The most influential theorist to discuss the importance of friendships was Harry Sullivan (1953). Sullivan contended that friends had a significant impact on the well-being and development of children and adolescents. According to Sullivan, everyone has a set of basic social needs:

• Tenderness (secure attachment)

• Playful companionship

• Social acceptance

• Intimacy

• Sexual relations

“Whether or not these needs are fulfilled largely determines our emotional well-being. For example, if the need for playful companionship goes unmet, then we become bored and depressed; if the need for social acceptance is not met, we suffer a lowered sense of self- worth. Sullivan stressed that the need for intimacy intensifies during early adolescence, motivating teenagers to seek out close friends.” (Sullivan,1953)

Research findings support many of Sullivan’s ideas:

“Adolescents also say they depend more on friends than on parents to satisfy their needs for companionship, reassurance of worth, and intimacy”

(Furman & Buhrmester, 1992)

Friendship relationships are frequently significant sources of support. Sullivan described how adolescent friends boost one another's self-esteem. Close friends discover that they are not "abnormal" and have nothing to be ashamed of when they share their mutual insecurities and fears about themselves. Friends can also serve as important confidants, assisting children and adolescents in dealing with difficult issues (such as problems with parents or the end of romantic relationships) by providing both emotional support and information.

(Berndt, 1999; Wentzel, 2013).

Peer Pressure and Conformity

Around the eighth and ninth grades, conformity to peers — especially to their antisocial standards — peaks. (Berndt, 1979; Brown & Larson, 2009).

According to a recent study, the ages of 14 to 18 are especially important for developing the ability to stand up for one's beliefs and resist peer pressureto do otherwise. At this point, adolescents are more likely to join a peer in stealing car hubcaps, drawing graffiti on a wall, or stealing cosmetics from a store counter.

(Steinberg & Monahan, 2007)

Which adolescents are most likely to conform to peers?

The study concludes that adolescents who are unsure of their social identity, which can manifest as low self-esteem and high social anxiety, are more likely to conform to their peers.

This uncertainty is frequently heightened during times of transition, such as school and family transitions. Peers are also more likely to conform in the presence of someone they perceive to be of higher status than them. (Brechwald & Prinstein, 2011; Cohen & Prinstein, 2006; Prinstein, 2007; Prinstein & Dodge, 2008)

Coordinated Worlds of Parent-Child and Peer Relations

One study found that mothers' and fathers' warmth, advice-giving, and provision of opportunities were related to children's social competence (high prosocial behavior, low aggression), and then to social acceptance (being well-liked by peers and teachers) one year later.

(McDowell & Parke, 2009).

“One of the most consistent findings of attachment research involving adolescents is that secure attachment to parents is linked to positive peer relations” (Allen & Miga, 2010).

Adolescents can benefit from secure attachment with their parents because it fosters trust in them to engage in close relationships with others and lays the groundwork for close relationships. Nonetheless, a significant minority of adolescents from strong, supportive families struggle in peer relationships for a variety of reasons, including physical unattractiveness, late maturation, and cultural and socioeconomic-status disparities. Some adolescents from troubled families, on the other hand, find a positive, fresh start with peer relationships that can compensate for their problematic family backgrounds.

Citations for Peers section