Children's Peer Groups Research Articles

A 6‐year longitudinal exploration of diversity in ethnically/racially minoritized children's early peer circles

AbstractExposure to diverse peers can expand children's experiences and skillsets, and these positive effects linger beyond childhood. Yet, little is known about the ethnic/racial, gender, and age diversity in children's peer groups and how it may shift over time. Even less is known about these patterns among US nonwhite children. In the present study, we thus explored how diversity (with regard to ethnicity/race, gender, and age) in ethnically minoritized children's peer groups change from infancy through early childhood and tested whether the diversity of early peer groups remained stable across time. Over a 6‐year period we followed 234 children (ages 1–6; 115 girls) from three large ethnic/racial minority groups in the United States: African American, Dominican American, and Mexican American. With age, children's peer groups increased in ethnic/racial diversity but decreased in gender and age diversity. Moreover, children's early peer diversity (at/around age 2–4) positively predicted the diversity of their later peer groups (at/around age 6) across all three types of diversity. This study provides novel insights into how children's peer groups change and grow in early development, particularly focusing on children from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in psychological science.

Peer groups, academic achievement and the behaviour of elementary school‐aged children: A strength‐based perspective

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine how the members of children's peer groups resemble each other in terms of behavioural and emotional strengths, academic achievement and behaviour at school. The participants were 739 9‐ to 10‐year‐old children (354 boys, 385 girls) from 30 Finnish elementary schools. 431 children (241 girls, 190 boys) were part of peer groups. Less than 5% of participants were other than Finnish origin. The children self‐assessed their behavioural and emotional strengths, and teachers evaluated the children's academic achievement and behaviour at school. Children also filled the sociometric questionnaire and sociograms were drawn to identify peer groups. Standardized beta values of regression analyses were used as indicators of effect sizes. The results showed that when observed as a strength, children's school functioning was positively linked to both academic achievement and behaviour at school. The intraclass correlations (ICC) revealed that members of peer groups resembled each other in terms of behavioural strengths, and behaviour at school, but not in academic achievement. The gender composition of peer groups explained the variance in behaviour at school between peer groups. The results of this study highlight the importance to consider children's peer group also when implementing behavioural interventions.

Children's decision making in cancer therapy: A long-term observational study.

The survival rate of children with cancer has increased substantially in recent years. Shared decision making (i.e., the ability of children with cancer to express their will and share it with medical personnel) has become a particularly important issue. The nature and developmental processes of children's decision making in hospital should be understood. There is, however, a lack of research in this area. From January 2016 to March 2018, we conducted a longitudinal qualitative observational study, within the context of medical anthropology, in a hospital pediatric ward in Japan. We investigated the nature and development of decision making among seven children aged 5-12 years with hematologic cancers. We recorded their everyday behaviors, interactions, narratives, and events in the ward. The recording was conducted systematically and it was analyzed thematically using both variable-oriented and process-oriented modes to assess causal relationships between phenomena. The thematic analysis identified three thematic scenes in which children developed their will regarding cancer treatment: (1) adjusting to hospital life; (2) forming friendships with other children; and (3) communicating with medical personnel. Sharing information, building trusting relationships, and sharing treatment goals with medical personnel were identified as forms of children's participation in medical decision making. Through cultivated friendships, children's peer groups were sources of resilience and strength in overcoming difficulties in hospital life. The development of children's decision making in a pediatric oncology ward was based on various rich human relationships. Such relationships should be promoted to improve shared decision making substantially.

Symmetries and asymmetries in children's peer-group reading discussions

This paper reports a research project exploring children's peer interactions in group reading discussions where a teacher was not present as an authoritative guide. This context reflects a reality of classroom teaching where most children in the class are completing tasks independently while the teacher is working other groups. In the study, four quartets of ten year-old children in the UK and Mexico were recorded as they discussed different texts together and this paper reports the findings from their engagement with The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan. In the paper, we focus on the symmetries and asymmetries apparent in the children's peer talk to consider how they engage together to make meaning from the text they are reading. To this end we focus on two strands of analysis related to children's talk within their groups: (a) the function of utterances within their speech turns; and (b) the dynamics of the interaction, that is, the organisation of the talk into topical episodes. By considering these two strands of analysis, we are able to illuminate the nuances of a/symmetries in small-group reading contexts as we concentrate on how the children use language and action to influence the direction of, and contribute to, the discussions. The results find children authoritatively shifted the discussion forward into new topics using different means, and displayed evidence of high-level comprehension as they engaged with the ideas of each other. The two strands of analysis complemented each other as they illustrated not only the resources the children drew on to shift the movement of the discussion, but how their language enabled this movement forward. The results also highlighted differences in how the children perceived their goals and responsibilities within the task and groups.

Emotion socialization – compassion or non-engagement – in young children's responses to peer distress

Abstract Taking its point of departure from sociocultural perspectives, the present study examines 2–3-year-old children's responses to peers' crying in a regular Swedish preschool. By analyzing video recordings of the children's everyday activities and frequent situations of crying in peer play conflicts, the study identifies the broad range of children's responses to peer distress. Children's orientation towards a crying peer is discussed in relation to their social concerns, relationships, and the institutional characteristics of preschool play activities. The children's most common orientation to peer's crying was to stay away from the child in distress by simply observing him (looking at him), or by continuing play. Children actively engaged with the crying child by continuing the conflict or, on rare occasions, showing compassion (trying to verbally and nonverbally alleviate the crying child's distress). Children's responses to peer's crying are discussed in terms of collective socialization practices, related to children's peer group play concerns, and institutional concerns of educators. We argue that responses to children's crying constitute sites for emotion and moral socialization and (re)-produce specific cultural values about compassionate conduct, the normative appropriateness of crying, and caregiver–child responsibilities for alleviating another's distress.

The Impacts of Gifted and Talented Education

This paper estimates the impact of gifted and talented program participation on academic achievement and peer composition for a sample of 8th grade students. Gifted education provides children that have been identi ed as having high ability in some intellectual respect with a supplemental curriculum to their traditional school course work. Participation in gifted programs is not random, so OLS estimates are biased by the presence of unobserved heterogeneity which is correlated with participation status as well as outcomes. To obtain causal estimates, I use an instrumental variables approach where the instrument is a self-constructed measure of how well each child fulfills the criteria his/her school uses to admit students into the gifted program, relative to the child's peers. The IV estimates indicate that, in the short run, participation is associated with a signifcant increase in math standardized test score performance. In the long run, participation is found to increase the probability a child takes Advanced Placement classes. There is no evidence that participation infuences the composition of a child's peer group.

It Takes a Village: The Economics of Parenting with Neighborhood and Peer Effects

As children reach adolescence, peer interactions become increasingly central to their development, whereas the direct influence of parents wanes. Nevertheless, parents may continue to exert leverage by shaping their children's peer groups. We study interactions of parenting style and peer effects in a model where children's skill accumulation depends on both parental inputs and peers, and where parents can affect the peer group by restricting who their children can interact with. We estimate the model and show that it can capture empirical patterns regarding the interaction of peer characteristics, parental behavior, and skill accumulation among US high school students. We use the estimated model for policy simulations. We find that interventions (e.g., busing) that move children to a more favorable neighborhood have large effects but lose impact when they are scaled up because parents' equilibrium responses push against successful integration with the new peer group.

It Takes a Village: The Economics of Parenting with Neighborhood and Peer Effects

As children reach adolescence, peer interactions become increasingly central to their development, whereas the direct influence of parents wanes. Nevertheless, parents may continue to exert leverage by shaping their children's peer groups. We study interactions of parenting style and peer effects in a model where children's skill accumulation depends on both parental inputs and peers, and where parents can affect the peer group by restricting who their children can interact with. We estimate the model and show that it can capture empirical patterns regarding the interaction of peer characteristics, parental behavior, and skill accumulation among US high school students. We use the estimated model for policy simulations. We find that interventions (e.g., busing) that move children to a more favorable neighborhood have large effects but lose impact when they are scaled up because parents' equilibrium responses push against successful integration with the new peer group.

Inclusive classroom norms, children's sympathy, and intended inclusion toward students with hyperactive behavior

As the classroom represents an important social context for the development of out-group attitudes, the current study investigated the role of inclusive classroom norms for students' attitudes toward hyperactive peers. The study included 1209 Swiss children from 61 school classes who were surveyed in the fifth grade (T1) and in the sixth grade (T2) (MageT1 = 11.55 years, MageT2 = 12.58 years). Students' attitudes toward hyperactive children was assessed by self-reports on students' sympathy and intended inclusion toward hypothetical children who show hyperactive behavior. Moreover, students rated their classmates' inclusive attitudes. Analyses with an autoregressive multilevel path model revealed that inclusive classrooms norms in the fifth grade predicted students' sympathy and intended inclusion toward hyperactive children in the sixth grade. The results implicate that group-level analyses are important in order to explain hyperactive children's peer group problems.

Preschool teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and emotional reactions to young children's peer group behaviors

The goal of the present study was to examine preschool teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and emotional reactions in response to vignettes depicting a range of children's peer group behaviors. Participants were N=405 female preschool teachers, aged 20–65 years (M=41.54, SD=10.50), recruited from childcare centers and preschools located primarily in Ontario, Canada. Participants read a series of short scenarios depicting hypothetical children engaging in a range of peer-group behaviors at preschool, including: (1) physical aggression; (2) relational aggression; (3) shyness; (4) unsociability; (5) rough-and-tumble play; and (6) exuberance. Following each vignette, teachers responded to a series of items assessing their attitudes (e.g., intent to intervene, tolerance), beliefs (e.g., implications for children's social and academic functioning), and emotional reactions (e.g., anger, worry) toward each child behavior. Results indicated that preschool teachers expressed more negative views in response to child aggression as compared to social withdrawal. Exuberance and rough-and-tumble play elicited comparatively positive, but also somewhat mixed responses. However, clear differences were also evidenced among sub-types of both aggression and social withdrawal. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications of teachers’ distinctions among different types of young children's peer-group behaviors at preschool.

Moderating effects of group status, cohesion, and ethnic composition on socialization of aggression in children's peer groups.

We explored the effects of 3 group features (i.e., status, cohesion, and ethnic composition) on socialization processes of aggression in early adolescents' natural peer social groups. Gender differences in these effects were also determined. A total of 245 seventh-grade individuals belonging to 65 peer groups were included in the analyses. All 3 group features moderated the strength of group socialization on physical aggression with the exception of group status on girls' physical aggression. Stronger socialization of physical aggression occurred in higher status, more cohesive, or ethnically more homogeneous groups. In contrast, only group cohesion moderated the strength of group socialization on social aggression among girls. These findings suggest that somewhat different processes may be involved in peer group influences on different forms of aggression. Future intervention and prevention efforts for adolescent aggression should consider peer group membership and group features simultaneously.

Psychological impact of chronic kidney disease among children and adolescents: Not rare and not benign

The child, from the time of toddlerhood through school age and adolescence, is rapidly changing, not only in physical growth but in emotional and sexual growth. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) may affect these facets of the maturing child. Children with CKD often experience a series of body habitues changes from the condition itself and from the immunosuppressive therapy used to treat it (1-4) .Polyuria and polydipsia, with subsequent enuresis; kidney disease-related edema; CKD-related growth impairment; and devices placed in the body, including those used for feeding or dialysis access, all influence the physical, emotional, and sexual growth of these children (5-9). These physical side effects distinguish them from their peers and take a toll on self-esteem. CKD also places particular demands on a child’s social life. Children wish to be with their peers in and out of school, playing sports, attending school outings, and participating in other activities with classmates and friends. Physician appointments, dialysis sessions, and home medication therapy cut into that social time. These children may become more and more isolated, making peer acceptance a bigger issue. Data on school performance have shown that children with CKD are at risk for impairment. The etiology of this deficit appears to be multifactorial, with the neurological side effects of the disease itself and the associated treatments, as well as school absences, all potentially playing a role. There must be an ongoing research and clinical focus on the emotional impact of the illness. The child with kidney disease, like the adult with the condition, needs to be treated as a “whole person,” with the physical and emotional effects of the disease addressed. In the last three decades, the physical health of children with progressive CKD and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has improved with advances in nutrition, medical care, and transplantation. Further research using kidney disease-related measures reveals that the condition significantly influences patient and family perception of chronic quality of life (4,5). Unfortunately, many children with CKD still receive suboptimal psychological acre and psychological disorders associated with the pediatric CKD are not being detected early enough to initiate treatment and reduce the future disability. Given the condition’s effects on the physical and emotional well-being of this vulnerable patient population, steps must be taken to provide intensive and ongoing psychological support of the child with kidney disease and the child’s family, including siblings (4,5,10).The interventions should utilize the managed care system to educate the health care providers by focusing on prevention and early detection of the serious mental health disorder. Pediatricians and pediatric nephrologists as well as other health care providers such as nurses and social workers remain the cornerstone for early detection and intervention. They may assume the supervisory role of direct patient care, provide emotional support and perform or supervise follow-up activities. Children with kidney disease and their families should be educated about the importance of potential benefits of routine psychological evaluations through the CKD course. Peer groups of children with CKD enable participants to share their experiences and support each other during this time of maturation. Similarly, kidney camps offer children with CKD, ESRD, or a kidney transplant the chance to come together for a typical camp experience while also enjoying the fellowship of those who know exactly what it means to be a child living with kidney disease (8,9). Those children who are frequent inpatients can derive additional benefit from hospital-based school systems that help them keep up with their studies and from interactions with child life specialists who are tuned into the concerns and needs of children with CKD (7).

Ideas as “possessitives”: Claims and counter claims in a playground dispute

In the shared space of a school playground, matters of ownership and possession are seriously attended to by children in their everyday encounters with others. The study reported here uses conversation analysis and an ethnomethodological approach to investigate a dispute between two children, aged four to six years, as they decide whose idea for the game will be used. Drawing on Sacks’ (1995) notion of possession, and Sharrock's (1974) paper “on owning knowledge”, this paper demonstrates how children draw on the phrase, “that's my idea”, to claim ownership. Analysis of their video-recorded interaction shows how the children used physical actions, gaze and talk to invoke their own intellectual property as a commodity in the dispute. Whilst invoking ownership, analysis highlights that entitlement over people, objects and the decisions of the shared interactional space did not occur unproblematically. Material objects were used to counter claims to ideas, and it was the uptake of the game and the use of play objects by others that led to whether the idea of game category was upheld. This analysis enables adults a glimpse into the complex social organisation of children's peer group.

“If you have money, you can be kinder to them”: possessions and economic resources in children's peer groups

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the functions of material possessions and economic resources in peer relationships among third grade children.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 48 Swedish children aged nine were interviewed in focus groups, using a projective vignette technique and pictures. The children were asked if and how children in general could gain new friends through material possessions and money.FindingsThe findings indicate that children perceive possessions as multi‐functional tools in peer relationships. The ability to fit into the peer group, by the use of different possessions, was perceived as especially important. Additionally, children perceived money as an altruistic tool to demonstrate kindness.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a qualitative study and the results are based solely on ten focus groups.Practical implicationsThis study implies that children's ability to fit into the peer group seems to be more important than the need to express individuality. Thus, it may be a challenge for social marketers, teachers, parents, and others to address children's consumption behavior as a factor strongly influenced by the peer group.Originality/valuePrevious research indicated that material possessions were important for children in order to gain popularity among peers. However, few studies have tried to investigate how children perceive the functions of material possessions and economic resources.

The Impact of Clique Membership on Children's Social Behavior and Status Nominations

AbstractThe impact of children's clique membership on their peer nominations for social behaviors and status was examined in a sample of 455 third‐ through fifth‐grade children. Social identity theory (SIT) and children's peer group affiliation and context served as primary conceptual frameworks for this investigation. As suggested by SIT, results indicated that children displayed favorable views toward their own cliquemates, nominating cliquemates more often for positive characteristics (e.g., prosocial, cool) and high status indicators (like‐most, most‐popular) than for negative characteristics (e.g., aggression) and low status indicators (like‐least, least‐popular). At the same time, children's views toward their cliquemates were commensurate with the clique's normative reputations as determined by the broader peer group (i.e., grade). This suggests that children's perceptions toward their cliquemates, albeit favorable, are also regulated by the overall clique context. Meaningful gender and grade effects on children's cliquemate nomination patterns were found. Findings also were discussed regarding the impact of clique size on a peer‐based assessment of social reputations and status.

The influence of norms and social identities on children's responses to bullying

Research on bullying increasingly focuses on social processes, showing that group membership affects children's responses to bullying scenarios. Additionally, correlational research has shown links between norms of cooperation and prosocial behaviour, and between competition and more aggressive forms of behaviour. This paper focuses on how children's peer group membership affects their group-based emotions in response to an intergroup bullying incident, and the action tendencies that these emotions predict, in the context of different background norms (for competitive or cooperative behaviour). Italian schoolchildren, 10-13 years old (N= 128, 65 males) took part in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to the group of a perpetrator, target, or third-party group member described in a scenario. Next, they played a game designed to induce a cooperative, competitive, or neutral norm, and read the scenario. They then answered a questionnaire measuring their group-based emotions. Results underscored the role of norms and group processes in responses to bullying. In particular, children exposed to a cooperative norm expressed less pride and more regret and anger about the bullying than those in other conditions. This study indicates that the influence peer groups have on bullying may be tempered by the introduction of a cooperative normative context to the school setting.

Future Directions: Social Development in the Context of Social Justice

AbstractMany societies and cultures have become increasingly diverse and heterogeneous over the past decade. This diversity has a direct bearing on social justice in children's and adolescents' social development. Increased diversity can have positive consequences, such as the possibility for increased empathy, tolerance, perspective taking, and the celebration of various cultural traditions and values, but it can also result in increased prejudice, bias, and discrimination. In this article, we suggest that incorporating a focus on social justice can transform the field of social development. This can be done by considering the larger societal context of diversity or heterogeneity when investigating children's peer interactions, attitudes, group identity, and social experience. In addition, new findings that incorporate social justice concerns have implications for designing interventions to enhance children's healthy social development. We highlight and discuss recent areas of research that bear on this perspective and discuss avenues for future research and investigation.

Ethical Issues in School-Based Research

This paper provides an introduction to ethical issues arising in children's research that takes place in school-settings. It addresses three main areas of ethical concern: the informed consent process, confidentiality, and harm and benefit. Informed consent in school settings is characterized by the involvement of multiple stakeholders, including not just researchers, parents and individual children but also school principals, teachers and the children's peer group. The added complexity of the setting has implications for the management of the informed consent process, including the decision at what point and in which manner each stakeholder group needs to be involved in the process. The presence and divergent roles of these multiple stakeholders in the school setting also have implications for addressing issues of confidentiality, especially due to the group setting in which participants take part in the research and role expectations within school settings. Harm and benefit in school-based research are of a non-physical nature; relevant areas of concern relate primarily to the potential for psychological and social harm, realistic presentation of likely benefits from research and the issue of rewards for research participation.

Correlates of victimization in Hong Kong children's peer groups

This study reports two separate cross-sectional investigations that focus on bully/victim problems among Hong Kong school children. Study 1 included 1361 children (670 boys, 691 girls; mean age = 12.6 years) and Study 2 included 288 children (153 boys, 135 girls; mean age = 9.6 years). Children's social and academic functioning was assessed with data obtained from teacher ratings and peer nominations. Consistent with findings from research in other settings, the correlates of victimization in groups of Hong Kong children included submissiveness–withdrawal, low levels of assertive behavior, and poor academic performance. There were generally similar findings across age groups for submissiveness–withdrawal and prosocial–assertiveness, but the link between poor academic functioning and peer victimization was complicated by gender and age effects. We also found that aggressive behavior was associated with victimization by peers, and that the relations were stronger for relational victimization than for overt victimization. The practical implications of our findings for intervention efforts that target victimized children are also discussed.

Peer Group Affiliation of Children: The Role of Perceived Popularity, Likeability, and Behavioral Similarity in Bullying

To understand children's peer group affiliation, this study examined to what extent children in naturally occurring groups resemble each other on bullying, likeability, and perceived popularity. Participants were fourth- to sixth-grade pupils (N = 461). Peer groups were identified using the social cognitive map procedure. Resemblance on bullying, likeability, and perceived popularity was evaluated by means of variance components models. Resemblance in peer groups was strongest for perceived popularity, followed by bullying and likeability. Moreover, resemblance on bullying could for a large part be attributed to the high-perceived popularity of the group, and to a lesser extent, to the low likeability of the group. It is concluded that children showing bullying seem to affiliate with each other most of all to attain or maintain their position in a perceived popular peer group. Results stress the importance of considering the functionality of bullying from a group perspective.