Peers Similar in age, usually acquainted – reference group Friends

1. Friends and Peers • Peers • Similar in age, usually acquainted – reference group • Friends • Mutual relationships based on trust, personality similarities, activities, attitudes about life “When I was younger [my friends and I] just played. Now we talk over things and discuss problems. Then it was just a good time. Now you have to be open and able to talk.” -- 15 year old boy

2. Family & Friends in Adolescence 103 minutes per day with friends Time spent with family decreases Time spent with friends increases 28 minutes per day with parents Provide information, guidance, anchor

3. Talking to Family and Friends

4. Why do adolescents become friends? • Similarity in: • Age • Gender • Educational goals • Media and leisure preferences • Participation in risky behavior • Ethnicity

5. Emotional self-regulation I can learn how to handle emotional issues Support Close friends accept me for who I really am, and will be there when I need help Trust I can tell my friends things in confidence Identity formation Close friends help me learn about myself and become someone Empathy A close friend mirrors my own emotions Leisure Learn how to enjoy life after childhood

6. Friends: Support & Nurturance • Informational Support “What should I do? Should I ask Jimi to go out with me?” • Instrumental Support “Thanks for helping me with my math homework” • Companionship Support “Let’s go to the game together – that way we can sit together. I don’t know anyone at Riverdale High.” • Esteem Support “Don’t worry about it, you’re the best guitar player here. You’ll win the songwriting contest next time.”

7. Psychopathology is associated with having fewer friends • Friendship serves as a bridge between close relationships with parents and a close relationship with partner • Reparative function of friendship in adolescence – can allow adolescent to overcome previous difficulties

8. Attachment formation by choice! • Adolescents generally experience stronger positive emotions in the company of friends – compared to family • But, friends are the source of strongest negative emotions, too • Perspective-taking – “we experience life the same way”

9. Cultural Differences • Cultural differences – “friendships” in U.S. tend to be formed and ended more quickly than in most other Western cultures (e.g., European cultures) • Friendships in non-Western cultures tend to be less common, given the focus on the family • Pattern of increasing time spent with peers, decreasing time spent with parents • But, compared to “modern” cultures, males spend more time with peers, while females spend more time with adult females (both about learning “roles”) • Even in cultures where most adolescents attend school, the social and emotional balance tilts toward family

10. Late adolescents and emerging adults describe their closest relationship: Friendly (focus on shared activities) Intimate (focus on affection, emotional attachment) Integrated (combines friendly and intimate) 4. Uninvolved (focus on neither shared activities nor intimacy) College students are more likely than high school students to have an intimate or integrated friendship relationship.

11. Gender and Emotional Intimacy

12. Function of Intimacy Difference between Erik Erikson & Harry Stack Sullivan – identity v. intimacy Chumship – sharing at the core, the unknown, risking everything Development of TRUST, which must be accompanied by LOYALTY

13. Constructing Ideas: Peer Pressure or Friends’ Influence? • Tend to be friends with others who do or do not engage in risky behavior • Self-image (look cool, grown up) influences many to engage in behaviors that they would not engage in alone • Although negative peer pressure certainly exists, much more pressure occurs to be positive than negative

14. Methodological problems • Self-report • Adolescent egocentrism may be associated with adolescents’ perceiving more similarity between themselves and others than actually exists • Selective Association • People tend to choose friends that are similar to themselves (not influence, just similarity)

15. Group Association • Cliques • Small groups of friends who know each other well, do things together, and form a regular social group –”close friends groups” • Crowds • Larger, reputation-based groups of adolescents who are not necessarily friends and do not necessarily spend time together

16. Remembering Crowds in Your School Think of your high school days. What are the Crowds portrayed in these cartoons? Are they stereotypes?

17. Using Sarcasm & Ridicule in Crowds & Cliques • Promotes dominance hierarchy • Reduces non-conformity and increases group cohesion • When directed at outsiders, clarifies group boundaries • Eases anxiety by directing attention to others • In other cultures, directed at adults, reinforces community standards

18. Relational Aggression • Non-physical forms of aggression: • Gossiping • Spreading rumors • Snubbing • Excluding • Covert, indirect form of aggression more common among girls

19. Developmental Changes in Crowds

20. From Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood… • Stage 1: Same-sex cliques • Stage 2: Boys’ and Girls’ cliques spend some time together • Stage 3: Gender cliques break down as clique leaders form romantic relationships • Stage 4: Other clique members follow suit • Stage 5: Males and females pair off in more serious relationships

21. Popularity in Adolescents & Sociometry • Sociometry: a research method in which students rate the social status of other students • Social Skills: qualities most often associated with popularity and unpopularity • 1. Popular – admired - high social skills, sense of humor, easy-going, intelligent, athletic, physical appearance, confident (but not conceited) • 2. Rejected – aggressive, more self-centered, distrustful (hostile attribution bias) – anger, delinquency, school dropout • 3. Neglected – shy, low social skills – depression, substance abuse • 4. Controversial – more aggressive, but high social skills – liked by some and disliked by others • Self-fulfilling prophesies – reinforced by others

22. Interventions for Unpopularity

23. Youth Culture: Three Components • Image –dress, hairstyle, piercings, other aspects of appearance • Demeanor – distinctive forms of gesture, gait, posture • Argot – certain vocabulary and way of speaking

24. Youth Culture • Generation gap • Values of a “youth culture” – hedonism, irresponsibility, excitement, adventure • Freudian notion of struggle between instincts and civilization • Participation in youth culture may be a “rite of passage” • Used to be just high school, but now extends through college and beyond • Defined by image, demeanor, argot (slang, language) • Allows youth to experiment with different identities

25. Serves to construct a generational world view that is unique – helps the young to feel like they are creating something meaningful, rather than simply buying into the establishment • Raves – loud, offensive to adults • Trying to find love and connectedness in a world that seems hateful and out of control

26. Technological Change & Youth Culture • Postfigurative Culture • Youth learn from their elders (e.g., traditional methods of farming) • Cofigurative Culture • Learning from both elders and peers • Prefigurative Culture • Jody teaches her Grandmother how to use the Internet