Adolescent friendships are characterized by
intimacy, self disclosure, trust and loyalty
Adolescent friendships tend to include
cooperation, sharing, intimacy, and affirmation, which reflect their emerging capacities for perspective taking, social sensitivity, empathy, and social skills
Adolescents expect their friends to be
there for them, stand up for them, keep their secrets or harm them
Adolescent boys get together for activities,
usually sports and competitive games and tend to be more social and vocal in groups as compared with one on one situations
Boys tend to excel at
being fun companions, coping with a friend who violates an expectation, and sustaining friendships within the context of having other friends
Most girls tend to prefer
one on one interactions and often spend their time together talking, sharing thoughts and feelings and supporting each other
girls friendships tend be shorter
in duration but characterized by more closeness than are those of boys
High quality friendships characterized by
sharing, intimacy, and open communication tend to endure over time
Among early adolescents it is estimated that
one third to one half of friendships are unstable, with young people regularly losing friends and making new friendships
After early adolescence, friendships become
more stable with young people retaining majority of their friendships over the course of a school year
As in childhood, similarity characterizes
adolescent friendships. friends tend to be similar in demographics such as age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status
Close friends and best friends tend to be similar in
orientation toward risky activity such as willingness to try drugs and engage in delinquency and dangerous behaviors such as unprotected sex
Adolescent friends tend to share
interests in taste of music similar in academic achievement, educational aspirations, political beliefs and they show similar trends in psychosocial development as identity status
Through interaction, friends tend to become even more similar to each other
An important predictor of friendship stability in adolescence is
similarity
In one study, adolescent friend dyads or pairs who differed in peer acceptance, physical aggression, and school competence in the 7th grade
were more likely to dissolve their friendship during high school than were dyads who were more similar
middle and older adolescents choose friends who are
different from them which encourages them to consider new perspectives.
Cross-ethnic friendships for example are
less common than same - ethnic friendships but are associated with unique benefits
Adolescent members of cross ethnic friendships show
decreases in racial prejudice over time
Ethnic minority adolescents with cross-ethnic friends perceive
less discrimination, vulnerability, and relational victimization and show higher rates of self esteem and well being over time than those without cross-ethnic friends
close and stable friendships aid adolescents in their
social adjustment. By communicating with others and forming mutually self-disclosing supportive relationships, adolescents develop perspective taking, empathy, self concept and self identity
Friends who are supportive and empathetic encourage prosocial behavior
promote psychological health reduce the risk of delinquency and help adolescents manage stress such as challenges of school transitions
friendships continue to change in early adulthood and emerging adulthood
During adolescence one on one friendships tend to
expand into tightly knit peer groups of anywhere from three to about nine most commonly around five members who are close friends
Close knit friendships are called
cliques
The norms of expected behavior and values govern
cliques derive from interactions among group members. for example, a norm of spending time exercising together and snacking afterward as well as valuing health and avoid smoking, alcohol, and drugs may emerge in clique whose members are athletes
belonging to a peer group provides
adolescents with a sense of inclusion, worth, support, and companionship
In early adolescents, cliques tend to be
sex segregated with some composed of boys and others composed of girls
Girls' groups tend to be smaller than
boys' groups but both are similarly tight knit
By mid adolescence
cliques become mixed and form the basis of dating
A mixed-sex group of friends provides
opportunities for adolescents to learn how to interact with others of the opposite sex in a safe non-romantic context
By late adolescence especially after high school graduation
mixed sex cliques tend to split up as adolescents enter college, the workforce and other post high school activities
crowds are
larger and less personal than cliques
Rather than voluntarily "joining" adolescents are
sorted into crowds by their peers
Common categories of peer groups found in Western nations include
athletes, jocks, academics, brains, partiers, normals, deviants, nonconformists
crowd membership is based on
an adolescent's image or reputation among peers
members of a crowd may or may not interact with one another
however because of similarities in appearance, activities, and perceived attitudes their peers consider them members of the same group
Crowds differentiate young people on the basis of behaviors such as
sexual activity, academic achievement, psychiatric symptoms and health risks such as alcohol and substance use
Some adolescence may use a particular crowd as a reference group and
model their behavior and appearance accordingly but adolescents do not always accurately perceive their own crowd status
In one study, about one half of students placed themselves in a crowd different from that assigned by peer
generally most tended to label themselves as normals or as not having a crowd. only about 20% of adolescents classified in the low status crowds, such as brains agreed with their peers on their crowd status
Adolescents who did not perceive themselves in a low status crowd showed
higher self esteem than did adolescents who agreed with their crowd placement
In middle adolescence as their cognitive and classification capacities increase
adolescents begin to classify their peers in more complex ways and hybrid crowds emerge such as popular jocks and partier jocks.
As with cliques, crowds decline in late adolescence especially
after young people leave high school.
Recent research suggests
that college students self identify into crowds along four dimensions social, scholastic, athletic, and counterculture with social and counterculture affiliation predicting drug use
Jamaica's insistence on wearing the black shoes that all of her friends own illustrates
her desire to conform to peers rises in early adolescence peaks at about age 14 and declines through age 18 and after
Most adolescents experience pressure to
conform to peer norms. Peers tend to exert pressure to conform to day to day activities and personal choices such as appearance clothing hairstyle music makeup
Adolescents reporting of risky behavior such as smoking
and unsafe sexual activities correlates with their peers' behavior. adults tend to view peer pressure as a negative influence on adolescents influencing them to behave in socially undesirable and even harmful ways
It is not simply peer behavior that influences adolescent behavior but it is
adolescents perceptions of peer behavior as well as beliefs about peers' activity, that predict engaging in risky activities such as smoking, alcohol use and marijuana use
Young people vary in how they perceive and respond to
peer pressure based on factors such as age, personal characteristics, and context such as the presence of norms.
Adolescents are especially vulnerable to the
negative effects of peer pressure during transitions such as entering a new school and undergoing puberty and when they are uncertain of their status in the peer group
Adolescents are more likely to conform to
best friends' behavior when they share high-quality and satisfying relationship
Peer pressure is not always negative. Youths report pressure from their friends to engage in prosocial and positive behaviors such as getting good grades, performing well athletically getting along with parents avoid smoking etc
for example, research with youths from Singapore demonstrates that peers exerted pressure on one another to conform to family and academic responsibilities-values that are particularly prized in Singapore culture
**in lab experiments u.s. adolescents were likely to show prosocial behavior such as sharing coins with others after believing that anonymous peers approved of their prosocial actions
Many young people have been involved in at least
one romantic relationship by middle adolescence and by age 18, most young people have some dating experience. By late adolescence, the majority of adolescents have been in an ongoing romantic relationship with one person
Dating begins through the intermingling of mixed sex peer groups and
progresses to group dating and then one one dating and romantic relationships.
Adolescents with larger social networks and greater access to
opposite sex peers date more than those who are less social
some research suggests that adolescents
date outside of their friendship networks and that prexisting friendships are not likely to transform into romantic relationships
Like friendship romantic partners tend to
share similarities such as academic achievement
Adolescents' capactiy for romantic intimacy develops
slowly and is influenced by the equality of their experiences with intimacy in friendships and their attachments to parents
One study showed that attachment to parents and friendship quality at 10 years of age
predicted being in a relationship and relationship quality at 12 and 15
Through romantic relationships, adolescents can learn to share, be sensitive to others' needs and
develop the capacity for intimacy. close romantic relationships provide opportunities to develop and practice sensitivity, cooperation, empathy and social support as well as to aid in identity development
In middle and late adolescence, romantic relationships are associated with
positive self concept, expectations for success in relationships, fewer feelings of alienation, and good physical and mental health
early dating relative to peers is associated with higher rates of
alcohol and substance use smoking delinquency and low academic competence over the adolescent years as well as long term depression especially in early maturing girls
Adolescent romantic relationships can have
consequences for functioning later in life. for example, high quality romantic relationships at age 17 were associated with fewer externalizing problems such as substance use and antisocial behavior in early adulthood at age 25 to 27
poor relationships however predicted
levels of anxiety and depression in early adulthood. causality cannot be assumed
interpersonal and developmental characteristics that led
to poor relationships in adolescence also influenced poor functioning in adulthood.
Romantic experiences in adolescence are often
continuous relationships with romantic experiences in adulthood, suggesting that building romantic relatinships is an important developmental task for adolescents
Adolescents who date fewer partners and experience better quality dating relationships in middle adolescence
tend to demonstrate smoother partner interactions and relationship processes in young adulthood as compared with their peers who are more indiscriminate in their choice of dates
Dating violence
Actual or threatened physical or sexual violence or psychological abuse directed toward a current or former boyfriend/girlfriend or dating partner.
adult dating violence occurs in youth of all
socioeconomic, ethnic,m and religious groups