Slide 1
A Topical Approach to
LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
Chapter Fifteen:
Peers and the
Sociocultural Word
John W. Santrock
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Slide 2
Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• Exploring peer relations
– Peer Group Functions
• Peers: individuals about the same age or maturity level
• Peer groups provide source of information and
comparison about world outside the family
• Peer influences and evaluations can be negative or
positive
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Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• Adult-child and peer relations
– Parent influences on peer relations
• Choice of neighborhoods, churches, schools
• Recommend strategies to handle disputes or become
less shy
• Encourage children to be tolerant or resist peer pressure
• Provide emotional base from which to explore peer
relations
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Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• Peer contexts
– Interaction influenced by context; situation,
location, culture
– Individual differences affecting peer relations
• Personality traits (shy, outgoing)
• Trait of emotional negativity; easily angered
• Status and power conveyed/afforded
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Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• Developmental changes in childhood
– Early Childhood
• Frequency of peer interaction increases
– Middle/Late Childhood
• Children spend increasing time in peer interaction
– Average time spent
• 10% of time spent with peers at age 2
• 20% of time spent with peers at age 4
• 40% of time spent with peers during ages 7-11
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Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• Social cognition
– Thoughts about social matters
• Five steps in processing information about social world
– Decode social cues
– Interpret
– Search for response
– Select optimal response
– Enact
• Affects ability to get along with peers
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Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• Emotional Regulation and Peer Relations
– Five peer statuses
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•
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Popular – often designated a best friend, rarely disliked
Average – receive average positive/negative ratings
Neglected – rarely nominated a best friend, not disliked
Rejected – actively disliked, infrequently nominated as
best friend
• Controversial – frequently nominated as best friend and
being disliked
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Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• Bullying
– Physical or verbal behavior with harmful intent
– Significant numbers victimized
• Boys and younger middle school students
• Victims of bullies reported more loneliness and difficulty
in making friends
• Those who did the bullying more likely to have low
grades, smoke and drink alcohol
• Both victims and bullies had more health problems than
other children
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Bullying
Behaviors
Among U.S.
Youth
Fig. 15.1
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Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• To reduce bullying
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–
–
–
–
–
–
Use older peers as monitors
Develop school-wide rules and sanctions
Form friendship groups for victims
Be more aware of where bullying behaviors occur
Sponsor antibullying program in all settings
Parents reinforce positive behaviors, role model
Early intervention, teach bullies appropriate skills
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Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• Gender and Peer Relations
– Gender composition
• From age 3, children prefer same-sex groups
– Group size
• From age 6, boys prefer larger groups
– Interaction in same-sex groups
• Boys: organized group games, rough-and-tumble
• Girls: collaborative discourse
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Slide 12
Peer Relations in
Childhood and Adolescence
• Adolescent Peer Relations
– Peer pressure — peers play powerful roles
– Cliques and crowds — to be liked and included
• Cliques: Small groups averaging 5 or 6; usually same
sex and age
• Crowd: larger than cliques, less personal than cliques
– Important role in one’s development in all cultures
– Cross-cultural comparisons and variations
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Friendship
• Six Functions of Friendship
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–
–
–
–
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Companionship
Stimulation
Physical support
Ego support
Social comparison
Affection/intimacy
• Intimacy in friendship: self-disclosure and sharing of
private thoughts
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Friendship
• Friendship during Childhood
– Children use friends as cognitive and social
resources
– Not all friends and friendships are equal
• Supportive friendships advantageous
• Coercive, conflict-ridden friendships not
– Friends generally similar: age, sex, ethnicity, and
many other factors (“homophily”)
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Friendship
• Friendship during Adolescence
– Peer popularity is strong motivator
• Younger teens prefer smaller groups, more intimacy
– Sullivan: peers help shape development
• Sources of attachment, play, intimacy, social fulfillment
• Reassurance of worth, sharing of information
– Peers have strong influence through association
• Age range/knowledge of peers can influence behaviors
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Friendship
• Friendship during Adolescence
– Gender differences
• Girls more intimate with friends than boys, more open in
self-disclosure
– Personal disclosure has negative and positive
consequences for girls
• More risk of delinquent behavior when friends are older,
boys focus on power and excitement
– Early maturing: more risk for delinquent behavior
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Developmental
Changes in SelfDisclosing
Conversations
Fig. 15.3
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Friendship
• Adult friendship
– Comparison of childhood friends to adult friends:
similarities preferred — occupational status, age,
marital status, income, education, gender, religion,
ethnicity
– Gender Differences
• Women: more close friends; more intimate; talk more
• Men: more competitive; engage in activities (outdoors)
• More cross-gender friendships; still prefer same-gender
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Friendship
• Friendship in late adulthood
– Choose close friends over new friends
• Content with small, close social network
• Tend to have less intense positive emotions with new
friends; equal level with old friends
– Research results:
• Depression linked to social contacts limited to family
• Close ties with old friends extends life span
• Unwed older adults with friend-focused network healthier
than unweds restricted to family, little friend contact
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Slide 20
Play and Leisure
• Childhood
– Play: enjoyable activity for its own sake
– Piaget: cognitive development constrains the way
child plays
– Functions of play
• Tension release, master anxiety and conflicts
– Play therapy
• Practice competencies and skills; learning that’s fun
– Vygotsky: play is good for creative thought
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Play and Leisure
• Childhood
– Types of play
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•
•
•
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Sensorimotor – infant behavior for exploring
Practice – repetition for physical and mental mastery
Pretense/symbolic – “golden age” of make-believe
Social – interaction with peers, sharing and cooperating
Constructive – self-regulated creation of something,
focus and concentration
• Games – engaged in for pleasure, have rules to follow
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Play and Leisure
• Adolescence
– Leisure:
• Pleasant times after work or school when individuals are
free to pursue activities and interests of their choosing
• U.S. adolescents spend more time than those in other
industrialized countries
– Most time in unstructured leisure activities
– Most time in voluntary structured activities
• Critics: too much unstructured leisure activity — TV and
“hanging out”
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Play and Leisure
• Adulthood
– Leisure
• Can include reading, hobbies, sports
• Many adults do not engage in activities
• Mid-life changes may produce expanded opportunities
for leisure
• Adults at midlife need to begin preparing psychologically
for retirement
• Vacations extend life span, lowers risk of heart disease
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Aging and the Social World
• Social theories of aging
– Disengagement theory
• To cope effectively, older adults should gradually
withdraw from society
• Lessen emotional ties, have more self-preoccupation
• Outdated for today’s world
– Activity theory
• The more active and involved older adults are, the more
likely they are to be satisfied with their lives
• Today’s older adults are more active than ever before
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Aging and the Social World
• Stereotyping of older adults
– Ageism
• Prejudice against other people because of age,
especially prejudice against older adults
• Most based on assumed frailty and ailments of age
– Personal consequences of negative stereotyping
can be serious
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Aging and the Social World
• Social Support and Social Integration
– Important physical and psychological impact
• Social convoy model of social relations — go through life
embedded in personal network of individuals that give
social support
• Helps those of all ages cope
• Improves mental and physical health
• Linked to reduced symptoms of disease
• Linked to longevity
• Emotionally positive contact lowers depression
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Aging and the Social World
• Successful aging
– Positive dimensions ignored too long
• Proper diet, technology, medical advances, and active
lifestyle prolong and enhance quality of life
• Related to perceived control over one’s environment
(self-efficacy)
– Social integration is very important
• Being lonely and isolated – a significant health factor
• Centenarians – optimistic and very happy
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Sociocultural Influences
• Culture
– A broad concept
• Behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a
group of people that are passed on from generation to
generation
• Ideas, values, assumptions that guide one’s behavior
– Global interdependence is inescapable reality
• All are citizens of the world
• Better understanding promotes effective interactions
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Sociocultural Influences
• Culture
– Relevance for life span development
• Individualism — giving priority to personal goals rather
than to group goals; emphasizing values that serve the
self
• Collectivism — emphasizing values that serve the group
by subordinating personal goals to preserve group
integrity, interdependence of members, and harmonious
relationships
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Sociocultural Influences
• Culture
– Consider self-terms of psychology
• Individualistic focus
– Self-actualization, self-awareness
– Self-efficacy, self-doubts
– Self-reinforcement, self-criticism
– Self-serving, selfishness
• Individualistic cultures
– Personal choice, intrinsic motivation, self-esteem,
and self-maximization
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Sociocultural Influences
• Technology, media and culture
– Major impact on many children in the world
• Positive and negative effects
• Criticisms:
– Books about today’s youth — Dumbest Generation
– Employers spending $1.3 billion to teach employees
writing skills
– iPods and YouTube impair thinking skills?
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Sociocultural Influences
• Aging and Culture
– Older persons
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Have valuable knowledge
Control key family/community resources
Remain useful and valued as long as possible
Have role continuity throughout yje life span
Engage in age-related role changes
Is integrated into the extended family
Get greatest respect in collectivistic cultures
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Sociocultural Influences
• Socioeconomic Status
– Grouping of people with similar occupational,
educational, and economic characteristics
• Number depends on community’s size, complexity
• Low SES and middle SES
– Each could have many subcategories
– SES variations in neighborhoods, schools
• Each level views education differently
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Sociocultural Influences
• Psychological Ramifications of Poverty
– Poverty: U.S. rates continue to increase
• Tends to follow ethnic lines
• Highest for children of all industrialized nations
– Psychological effects of poverty
• Powerless, vulnerable, no financial resources
• Inadequate housing, at-risk environment, etc.
• Long term effects: chronic health problems
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Sociocultural Influences
• Ramifications of Poverty
– Who is poor?
• Women — feminization of poverty
– Single mothers; single fathers
• Families and poverty
– Economic pressure linked with parenting
– Benefits to parents help children
• Poverty, aging, and ethnicity
– Overall more among women and ethnic minorities;
more than 25% of older women
– Ethnic diversity continues to increase
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Sociocultural Influences
• Ethnicity
– Ethnicity and socioeconomic status
• Difficult to separate influences of ethnicity and SES
• Minorities overrepresented in lower SES may cause
exaggeration of negative ethnic influences
• Links between acculturation and adolescent problems
– Poverty higher among minority immigrants
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Sociocultural Influences
• Ethnicity
– Ethnicity and families
• Families vary by size, structure, composition, levels of
income and education, kinship networks, and how family
monitors/regulates behaviors
• More single families in some groups
• Ethnic minority parents are less educated
• Children experience double disadvantage
– Do not escape prejudice and discrimination
– Stressful effects of poverty felt
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Sociocultural Influences
• Ethnicity
– Ethnicity and differences
• Recognizing differences important to getting along in
diverse world
• Differences among ethnic groups too often conceived by
majority as deficits of minorities
– Damaging to minorities
• Diversity within ethnic groups
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The End
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