Student Study Guide
Chapter 8
Peers: A World of Their Own
Chapter Outline
DEFINITIONS AND DISTINCTIONS
DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS OF PEER INTERACTION
FIRST ENCOUNTERS IN INFANCY
SOCIAL EXCHANGES BETWEEN TODDLERS
PEER PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
PEER SOCIETY IN THE SCHOOL YEARS
The Importance of the Peer’s Age
The Importance of the Peer’s Gender
PEER INTERACTIONS IN ADOLESCENCE
PEERS AS SOCIALIZERS
Modeling Behavior
Reinforcing and Punishing Behavior
Social Comparison
Cultural Context: Peer Roles and Relationships in Different Cultures
PEER STATUS
STUDYING PEER STATUS: ACCEPTANCE AND REJECTION
FACTORS THAT AFFECT PEER ACCEPTANCE
Behaviors That Make a Difference
Biological Predispositions
Social-Cognitive Skills
Are Children Always Reflective?
Children’s Goals in Social Interactions
Physical Appearance
Blending In
CONSEQUENCES OF PEER REJECTION
What Determines How Children React to Rejection?
Bet You Thought That . . . Names Would Never Hurt You
Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Rejection
Research Up Close: When “Love Thine Enemy” Fails
Insights from Extremes: From Rejection to Revenge?
Can Peer Status Change?
PROMOTERS OF PEER ACCEPTANCE
PARENTS AS PROMOTERS OF PEER ACCEPTANCE
Parents As Positive Partners
Parents As Coaches and Teachers
Parents As Social Arrangers and Monitors
When Parents Fail: Peer Rejection of Abused Children
RESEARCHERS AS PROMOTERS OF PEER ACCEPTANCE
PEERS CAN HELP TOO
WHEN PEERS BECOME FRIENDS
AGE CHANGES IN FRIENDSHIP
Earliest Friendships
Changing Friendship Goals
Changing Friendship Expectations
INTERACTIONS WITH FRIENDS
Insights from Extremes: When Children Love and Protect Each Other
FRIENDSHIP PATTERNS
THE PROS AND CONS OF FRIENDSHIP
ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
Teenage Love Affairs Really Do Matter
Changes in Romantic Dynamics Over Time
INTERACTION IN GROUPS
DOMINANCE HIERARCHIES
CLIQUES, CROWDS, AND GANGS
Into Adulthood: What Happens When Jocks, Brains, and Princesses Grow Up
Real-World Application: Youth Gangs
Chapter Summary
Key Terms
At the Movies
Friendship--Friendship themes are common in movies. In The Kite Runner (2007), two boys,
Amir and Hassan, form a deep friendship, playing and kiting on the streets of Kabul,
Afghanistan, in the 1970s. Hassan defends Amir from a violent older boy, demonstrating his
loyalty. But when Amir witnesses Hassan being beaten and raped by the older boy and does not
help him, the friendship comes to an end. This film offers a moving illustration of the persistent
guilt and regret that can result from a violated friendship. In Son of Rambow (2007), two British
11-year-olds who seem to have nothing in common meet in the hallway at school. One boy is
there because he comes from a strict religious family and is not allowed to watch a movie; the
other boy is there because he has been causing trouble again. Both boys are isolated at home and
at school, and despite their superficial differences, they have much in common and form a deep
friendship. This movie takes you inside the world of childhood, reminds you what it’s like to be
a child, and convinces you of the importance of lasting friendship. The Mighty (1998) offers a
moving portrayal of a childhood friendship between two seriously handicapped boys. Kevin’s
medical condition has twisted his body and stunted his growth; Max has a large body but his
mind is slow. Through their friendship, the boys overcome their complementary mental and
physical limitations, stand up to bullies, and defend the vulnerable. This movie provides a clear
demonstration of the benefits of a close friendship. Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996) is a dark
comedy about an awkward 7th-grader who is taunted and put down by her peers because of her
physical appearance. Her parents offer no support or helpful coaching, and her little sister makes
deprecating comments. This movie has no happy ending, but it will help you empathize with
young teens who suffer from peer rejection and pass on their anger and frustration to other
children who are even less popular. That’s What I Am (2011) is a coming-of-age story that
illustrates peer cruelty in middle school in 1965. We may be more tolerant of gay teachers today,
but peer rejection hasn’t changed much.
Cliques and Romantic Ties--Other movies offer insights into additional aspects of peer
relations discussed in this chapter. Clueless (1995) is a movie about high school cliques,
friendships, and romances; it focuses on three self-absorbed, fashion-obsessed teens who are
almost pulled apart by jealousy over boys but find that friendship wins out in the end. Scores of
movies have been made about teen romances, but three that are especially good at portraying the
intensity and poignancy of young love are Romeo and Juliet (1968), David and Lisa (1962), and
Moonrise Kingdom (2012). In David and Lisa, David is an obsessive who cannot bear to be
touched, and Lisa is a schizophrenic who speaks only in rhymes. Affection and kindness are not
cures for mental illness in real life as they appear to be in this movie, but the film’s portrayal of
young love is strikingly tender. In Moonrise Kingdom, also, the protagonists are drawn together
by their isolation, loneliness, and mental health issues.
Gangs--Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2009) is a documentary that tells the story of the
two most infamous African American gangs in South Los Angeles and chronicles the decadeslong cycle of destruction and despair that defines modern gang culture.
Learning from Living Leaders: Chapter 8 Peers: A World of Their Own
Steven R. Asher
Steven Asher is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University
(http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/pn/faculty/asher). He went to college at Rutgers University thinking
he would major in history and become a lawyer, but he became a psychology major after he was
inspired by his introductory psychology class. When a faculty member suggested that he go to
graduate school, his reaction was, “What’s that?” He knew about law schools but nothing about
Ph.D. programs. Soon, though, he found out, and went to the University of Wisconsin, where he
received his degree under the mentorship of Ross Parke, the coauthor of this textbook.
After graduation, Asher established himself as an expert on children’s peer relationships. He
developed a number of innovative methods for assessing children’s loneliness, friendship quality,
and sociometric standing, and he showed that children with low sociometric status and few peer
friendships suffer serious social-emotional consequences. He also advocated and designed social
skills training programs to help improve the lives of rejected and neglected children. He realized
how special friends are even in young children’s lives when he overheard his son Matt, then 4
years old, talking to his best friend Jessica (a year older): “Jessica, if you and I had been born the
same day we could play together every day until we die.” Matt spoke these words with great
tenderness and a sense of regret that their different ages had deprived them of a full year of time
together! According to Asher, anyone who watches children closely will be struck by the
emotional power of their friendships. He believes that the most pressing issue today is to find out
what skills children need to be successful in friendships.
Asher is coeditor of The Development of Children’s Friendships and Peer Rejection in
Childhood and has written many articles about children’s peer relations. He is a Fellow of the
American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the
American Educational Research Association and has served on the Governing Council of the
Society for Research in Child Development. He has this message for students: “There aren’t
many courses that have the potential to enrich your life as a parent, a friend, a mentor, and a
caring and scientifically minded citizen. This is one of those courses. So dig in, have fun with the
course, and ask the tough questions that will help you, your classmates, and your teacher to
grow.”
Further Reading
Asher, S. R., Brechwald, W., & McDonald, K. L. (in press). Children as friends. In A. BenArieh, J. Cashmore, G.S. Goodman, J. Kampmann, & G. B. Melton (Eds.). Handbook of
child research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Learning from Living Leaders: Chapter 8 Peers: A World of Their Own
Gary W. Ladd
Gary Ladd is Professor of Family and Human Development and Associate Director of the School
of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University
(https://sec.was.asu.edu/directory/person/323736). His interest in peer relationships began in an
earlier career as a school psychologist when he found that children’s social problems in
classrooms, on playgrounds, and on the school bus were more challenging than their academic
problems. This realization led him to study strategies that could be used to help neglected and
rejected children improve their relationships with classmates. He found that a combination of
coaching and modeling was effective, and his work led to changes in classroom practices and
educational policies.
Ladd also studied the effects of experiences in the family on children’s peer relationships.
He discovered that when parents provided opportunities for their children to interact with peers,
this was an important way to help children form social ties. In the Pathways Project, Ladd
followed children from before they entered school until they were in high school. He found that
children’s early behavioral dispositions in combination with their social experiences, such as
peer rejection or acceptance, predicted later developmental outcomes and mental health.
Ladd is editor of the Merrill Palmer Quarterly, a journal devoted to understanding
children’s development. He has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the
Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, a Spencer Foundation Fellow, and a recipient of
awards for excellence in teaching. For him, the most pressing issue in social development is how
to provide children access to safe, socially supportive, and academically challenging school
environments regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, or national origin. He encourages
research that will increase understanding of peer relations in different cultures and document the
effects of ethnic and political violence on children.
Further Reading
Ladd, G. W., Kochenderfer-Ladd, B., Eggum, N. D, Kochel, K. P., & McConnell, E. (2011).
Characterizing and comparing the friendships of anxious-solitary and unsociable preadolescents.
Child Development, 82, 1434–1453.</UBIB>
Learning from Living Leaders: Chapter 8 Peers: A World of Their Own
Willard W. Hartup
Willard (Bill) Hartup is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Child Development at the
University of Minnesota. As a young man, a friend urged him to read Freud, and this led him to
study psychology. When he became a graduate student at Harvard, he worked with two of the
leading scholars in social development, Robert Sears and Eleanor Maccoby, and became hooked
on a lifelong mission to understand children’s social behavior.
Hartup realized that peers were a neglected but potentially important part of social
development. This insight arose, in part, from overhearing conversations between his son and a
friend on the way to nursery school as they were plotting how to inflict mayhem on another peer.
Another incident involved an exchange with a student who asked Hartup what we know about
peers and child development. After answering “not much,” he organized a seminar that led him
to a career studying this issue. Over the next 40 years, he conducted both experimental and
observational research on friendships and, more recently, on enemies. He has shown that peers
can be both rewarding and annoying, helpful and hurtful.
Hartup has received much deserved recognition for his work, including awards for
Distinguished Scientific Contributions from the International Society for Behavioral
Development and the Society for Research in Child Development and the G. Stanley Hall Award
from the Developmental Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association.
He believes that one of the most pressing issues in social development research is to
discover the long-term effects of peer relations on later development. In the future, he sees the
possibility of developing a workable model of interaction between genes and environment that
will do a better job of predicting developmental outcomes. His advice for undergraduates is to
“write, write, and write some more. Take a wide variety of courses in the arts and sciences,
including biology, and be prepared: The psychology of the future is unlikely to be the same as
the psychology of the past.”
Further Reading
Hartup, W. W. (2006). Relationships in early and middle childhood. In D. Perlman & A.
Vangelisi (Eds.), Handbook of personal relationships (pp. 177–190). Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Learning Objectives
1. Understand the difference between peers and friends.
2. Describe developmental patterns of peer interaction.
3. Describe the types of play observed among preschool-aged children.
4. Describe the characteristics of peer relations in terms of age and gender.
5. Explain the ways in which peers act as socializers (modeling, renforcing, punishing, social
comparison).
6. Discuss the sociometric technique for assessing peer status.
7. Describe the peer status categories and the characteristics of children in each category
(average, popular, controversial, rejected, neglected).
8. Describe the perceived popularity method of assessing peer status.
9. Explain the factors that affect peer acceptance (behavior, biological predispositions, socialcognitive skills, goals, physical appearance, fitting in).
10. Summarize the consequences of peer rejection for children’s social adjustment
11. Summarize what is known about parents as promoters of peer acceptance (interactive
partners, coaches and social arrangers/monitors)
12. Describe how researchers can be promoters of peer acceptance.
13. Describe changes in friendship across childhood and adolescence.
14. Summarize the observed friendship patterns of rotation, growth, decline, static, and friendless.
15. Explain the risks and benefits of friendships.
16. Summarize the myths and realities of adolescent romantic relationships.
17. Describe the changes in romantic dynamics over time.
18. Explain the dominance hierarchy and the functions it serves in peer interactions.
19. Describe what is known about cliques, crowds, and gangs.
Student Handout 8-1
Chapter Summary
Peer Interactions
 Children’s interactions with peers are briefer, freer, and more equal than interactions with
adults. These interactions facilitate interpersonal exploration and growth in social
competence.
Developmental Patterns of Peer Interaction
 Infants interact with peers by vocalizing and touching.
 Toddlers exchange turns and roles during interactions with peers; major achievements
include sharing meaning with a peer and engaging in mutual pretend play.
 Children increase their preference for interacting with peers rather than adults as they grow.
 Companionship with peers of the same age increases over the school years.
 Children are likely to choose same-gender play partners.
 In adolescence, gender segregation lessens as dating begins. Peer relationships are used to
explore and enhance identities.
Peers as Socializers
 Peers act as models of social behavior, reinforce and punish each another, serve as standards
against which children evaluate themselves, and provide opportunities for developing a sense
of belonging.
 Peers have a stronger influence than parents on adolescents’ lifestyle choices.
 Patterns of peer interaction and influence are different in different cultures.
Peer Status
 Peer status is assessed with sociometric techniques by having children identify peers they
like and don’t like; peer acceptance is assessed with ratings of how much children like or
dislike each classmate. Children are classified as popular, rejected, neglected, controversial,
or average.
 Peer status depends on children’s abilities to initiate interaction, communicate effectively,
respond to others’ interests and behaviors, and cooperate in activities.
 Popular children engage in prosocial behavior and help set the norms for the group.
Nonaggressive-rejected children tend to be withdrawn and lack social skills. Aggressiverejected children have low self-control and exhibit problem behaviors. Neglected children are
less talkative and more shy and anxious. Controversial children are liked by many peers and
disliked by many others.
 According to social-cognitive information-processing theory, children attend to the cues in a
social situation, interpret other children’s behavior, decide what their own goals are and how
to achieve them, decide to take certain actions, and act on their decisions.
 Children may not always respond to social situations in a reflective and thoughtful way;
sometimes their behavior is impulsive or automatic.
 In comparison to unpopular and socially unsuccessful children, those who are popular and
socially successful have more positive goals and strategies, more self-confidence and


persistence, can try a new approach when another has been unsuccessful, are more attractive,
and blend in with other children.
Being unpopular can lead to short-term problems such as loneliness and low self-esteem and
long-term problems such as depression. Having at least one friend can reduce loneliness.
Social status tends to remain stable across time and situations, especially for rejected children.
Promoters of Peer Acceptance
 Parents serve as partners from whom children acquire social skills, act as social coaches, and
provide opportunities for children to have peer interactions.
 Researchers can help children improve their social skills by coaching.
 Peers themselves can help rejected children improve their social skills and experience more
peer acceptance.
When Peers Become Friends
 Children develop close friendships with only a few peers.
 The goals and expectations of friendship change with age.
 Friends communicate more clearly and positively, disclose more about themselves, exchange
more information, establish more common ground, and are able to resolve conflicts more
effectively than nonfriends.
 Boys’ same-gender friendships are less fragile than those of girls because they are often
embedded in a larger group of relationships.
 Friends provide support, intimacy, and guidance. However, some friendships encourage
deviant behavior, such as cheating, fighting, and using drugs.
 Withdrawn and aggressive children have friends with characteristics similar to their own.
 Romantic relationships in adolescence are an important and distinctive form of social
relationship.
Interaction in Groups
 Children form hierarchically organized groups with common goals and rules of conduct.
 In middle childhood, children form cliques, which enhance their well-being and ability to
cope with stress.
 In high school, children may be thought of by their peers as belonging to a specific crowd.
 A gang is a group of adolescents or adults who form an allegiance for a common purpose.
The gang may be a loose-knit group or a formal organization; organized gangs are often
involved in criminal activity.
Student Handout 8-2
Key Terms
GLOSSARY TERMS
aggressive-rejected children
Youngsters who are not accepted by their peers
because of their low level of self-control and
high level of aggression.
associative play
Interaction in which young children share toys,
materials, and sometimes conversation, but are
not engaged in a joint project.
average children
Youngsters who have some friends but who are
not as well liked as popular children.
clique
A peer group formed on the basis of friendship.
controversial children
Youngsters who are liked by many peers but
also disliked by many.
cooperative play
Interaction in which children share goals and
work together to achieve them.
crowd
A collection of people whom others have
stereotyped on the basis of their perceived
shared attitudes or activities—for example,
populars or nerds.
dominance hierarchy
An ordering of individuals in a group from
most to least dominant; a “pecking order.”
gang
A group of adolescents or adults who form an
allegiance for a common purpose.
homophily
The tendency of individuals to associate and
bond with others who are similar.
mutual antipathy
A relationship of mutual dislike between two
people.
negative gossip
Adverse or detrimental information shared
about another child with a peer.
neglected children
Youngsters who are often socially isolated and,
although they are not necessarily disliked, have
few friends.
nonaggressive-rejected children
Excluded youngsters who tend to be anxious,
withdrawn, and socially unskilled.
parallel play
Interaction in which very young children are
doing the same thing, often side by side, but
are not engaged with each other.
peer group network
The cluster of peer acquaintances who are
familiar with and interact with one another at
different times for common play or taskoriented purposes.
perceived popularity
Ratings of how well a child is liked by his or
her peers, made by teachers, parents, and
children.
popular children
Youngsters who are liked by many peers and
disliked by very few.
pretend play
Make-believe activity in which objects are
used symbolically.
rejected children
Youngsters who are disliked by many peers
and liked by very few.
reputational bias
Tendency to interpret peers’ behavior on the
basis of past encounters with and feelings
about them.
self-disclosure
The honest sharing of information of a very
personal nature, often with a focus on problem
solving; a central means by which adolescents
and others develop friendships.
social comparison
The process by which people evaluate their
own abilities, values, and other qualities by
comparing themselves with others, usually
their peers.
sociometric technique
A procedure for determining a child’s status
within her or his peer group; each child in the
group either nominates others whom she or he
likes best and least or rates each child in the
group for desirability as a companion.
OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER
automaticity of social behavior
coaching
co-rumination
cognitive map
emotional encoding /decoding
empathic stage
friend
friendship goals
gender segregation
monitoring
nomination sociometric technique
normative stage
peer
popular-aggressive peer
reward-cost stage
roster and rating sociometric technique
shared meaning
social arranging
social goals
social skills training
social-cognitive skills
socially reticent peer
transactional cycle of helplessness/hopelessness
unsociable or socially uninterested peer
Student Handout 8-3
Child Age__________
Time
Minute 1
Child Gender__________
Play Category
Description of Behavior
Minute 2
Minute 3
Minute 4
Minute 5
Minute 6
Minute 7
Minute 8
Minute 9
Minute 10
SUMMARY OF OBSERVATION
Behavior
Unoccupied/
Onlooker
Solitary Play
Parallel Play
Associative/
Cooperative
Play
Other
Total number of each
category observed
SUMMARY COMMENTS
Relate your observations to children’s social development. Is this child below average, average,
or above average for child’s age? What are your reasons for this rating?
Practice Exam Questions
Answers are given at the end of the questions. Pages in the text relating to each question are
given in parentheses () at the end of the question.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. At what age are interactions with peers characterized by a stable preference for same-gender
playmates and a main friendship goal of coordinated and successful play? (a) 2-3 years (b) 4-5
years (c) 6-7 years (d) 7-9 years (229)
2. Interaction in which young children are doing the same thing, often side by side, but are not
engaged with each other has been described as: (a) parallel play (b) pretend play (c) cooperative
play (d) associative play (230)
3. During interactions with peers during adolescence peers are especially likely to influence: (a)
adolescents’ educational plans (b) adolescents’ religious beliefs (c) whether the adolescent uses
controlled substances (d) adolescents’ level of volunteer work (233)
4. Youngsters who are often socially isolated and, although they are not necessarily disliked, have
few friends are labeled: (a) controversial (b) neglected (c) rejected (d) average (236)
5. Which of the following accurately describes the association between deficits in social
understanding and actual peer rejection? (a) deficits in social understanding do not predict peer
rejection (b) peer rejection does not predict deficits in social understanding (c) there is no
association between deficits in social understanding and actual peer rejection (d) deficits in
social understanding predict children’s level of social rejection (238)
6. Acceptance by peers is more likely when: (a) the child is more physically attractive (b) the
child has a unique name or clothing that sets him or her apart and therefore focuses positive
peer attention (c) the child pursues low-cost indirect social goals (d) the child suffers from a
physical or mental handicap, because classmates feel sympathetic (239-240)
7. Studies of rejection and loneliness suggest that: (a) aggressive-rejected children typically feel
lonelier than nonaggressive-rejected children (b) rejected children who have at least one friend
are less lonely than those who are totally friendless (c) rejection is not associated with other
outcomes beyond loneliness (d) loneliness is reduced only if the rejected child has two or more
friends (243)
8. Parents who coach their children are particularly effective when: (a) parents themselves are
socially skilled (b) parents do not appeal to prepared scripts (c) parents are physically present
during the interaction with peers (d) parents are in happy marriages (247)
9. Interventions designed to help children who are lonely have focused on communication with
peers including: (a) asking questions in a positive tone (b) waiting for peers to offer suggestions
(c) replacing general statements of support with focused expressions of the child’s goals (d)
hovering at the edge of a social group they wish to join (248-249)
10. The tendency of individuals to associate and bond with others who are similar to them is
described as: (a) a clique (b) a gang (c) social comparison (d) homophily (250)
11. The peer relationships formed by the Jewish children at Bulldog Banks during World War II
showed that: (a) children without friends suffer serious developmental problems that are not
easily reversed (b) although children without friends suffer serious developmental problems,
these are easily reversed by acquiring friends (c) children’s friendships can provide fun and
games in a stressful environment (d) children’s friendships can provide comfort and care (253)
12. Children who end up in gangs in adolescence or adulthood are more likely to: (a) have
neglectful parents (b) come from dysfunctional families (c) live in communities surrounded by
drugs and crime (d) all of the above (257)
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. List three consequences of being rejected by peers. (242-243)
2. Describe three processes by which peers act as socializers of children’s social development.
(233-234)
3. How is the social information processing approach useful in understanding peer acceptance?
(238-239)
Multiple choice answers: cacbdabaaddd