Peer Pressure Relationships

This comprehensive, authoritative handbook covers the breadth of theories, methods, and empirically based findings on the ways in which children and adolescents contribute to one another's development. Leading researchers review what is known about the dynamics of peer interactions and relationships from infancy through adolescence. Topics include methods of assessing friendship and peer networks; early romantic relationships; individual differences and contextual factors in children's social and emotional competencies and behaviors; group dynamics; and the impact of peer relations on achievement, social adaptation, and mental health. Salient issues in intervention and prevention are also addressed.

This multidisciplinary handbook, edited by the premier scholars in the field, reflects the empirical work and growth in the field of adolescent psychology.

Our friends are supposed to be there for us when we need them, to help us through tough times and laugh with us when things are going well. But sometimes, our friends can push us to do things we wouldn't do normally. We might want to do the things our friends are doing to fit in or be cool. This is peer pressure, and it can be dangerous when it leads to hurtful behaviors.

This must-have volume explores the issues surrounding peer pressure. It presents diversity of opinion on the topic, including both conservative and liberal points of view in an even balance. The sequences of essays guides readers through topics such as brain development, eating and exercise, popularity, parents, individuality, drugs and alcohol, and teacher influence in relation to peer pressure. Do sturdier brain networks help children resist peer pressure? Can organized activities deter negative peer pressure? Readers find answers to questions like these in this guidebook.

This volume brings together a team of leading psychologists to provide a state-of-the-art overview of adolescent development. Leading experts provide cutting-edge reviews of theory and research. Covers issues currently of most importance in terms of basic and/or applied research and policy formulation. Discusses a wide range of topics from basic processes to problem behavior. The ideal basis for a course on adolescent development or for applied professions seeking the best of contemporary knowledge about adolescents. A valuable reference for faculty wishing to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in the field. Now available in full text online via xreferplus, the award-winning reference library on the web from xrefer. For more information, visit www.xreferplus.com

In recent years, dating and romantic partners have been recognized as important peer relations within adolescence and research in this area is just emerging. Peer groups and peer pressure are more well established areas of research into adolescence, with recent studies focusing on peer groups and anti-social behaviour. The book will be the first in a series of three that examines the latest research in key areas of developmental psychology, edited by Rutger Engels and Hakan Stattin. This volume will present four areas of peer research: the ‘deviancy training’ mechanism of peer influence; behavioural genetic analytical techniques in understanding peer selection; romantic partners as peer relationships; and in-school and out-of-school peers studies.

An awesome awareness on peers' psyche, which is usually found only in psychology books, is presented here for the masses in an easily comprehendible way. Young people strive to fit in and gain social status with their peers. For fear of peer rejection and victimization they give into the threats of popular peers in the group. They develop close friendships, but breakups also occur. The dynamics of peer relationship continues through school days well into adulthood. The quality of peer acceptance provides an important clue to an individual's emotional and intellectual wellbeing. Skills to overcome peer pressure for purposeful achievements begins at home, when children themselves begin to settle their squabbles with siblings, the first peers of any child. Youngsters' unruly behaviour is an outcome of a complex combination of peer harassment and their own strength of mind. Considering the ill effects of disturbed peer relationships on young minds, the earlier they are addressed, the more opportunity there is to set troubled teenagers on the right path. Appropriate knowledge of "psychology of peer dynamics" can help accentuate the positive effects and minimize the negative effects of peer influence. This book imparts that knowledge. It extensively covers relationship issues, including that of sexual harassment and relational aggression, faced by all at some point and at different levels of relationships. Written with both parents and youths in mind, it is a must-read for anyone in search of answers on the subject of peers.

A psychologist with a reputation for penetrating to the heart of complex parenting issues joins forces with a physician and bestselling author to tackle one of the most disturbing and misunderstood trends of our time -- peers replacing parents in the lives of our children. Dr. Neufeld has dubbed this phenomenon peer orientation, which refers to the tendency of children and youth to look to their peers for direction: for a sense of right and wrong, for values, identity and codes of behaviour. But peer orientation undermines family cohesion, poisons the school atmosphere, and fosters an aggressively hostile and sexualized youth culture. It provides a powerful explanation for schoolyard bullying and youth violence; its effects are painfully evident in the context of teenage gangs and criminal activity, in tragedies such as in Littleton, Colorado; Tabor, Alberta and Victoria, B.C. It is an escalating trend that has never been adequately described or contested until Hold On to Your Kids. Once understood, it becomes self-evident -- as do the solutions. Hold On to Your Kids will restore parenting to its natural intuitive basis and the parent-child relationship to its rightful preeminence. The concepts, principles and practical advice contained in Hold On to Your Kids will empower parents to satisfy their children’s inborn need to find direction by turning towards a source of authority, contact and warmth. Something has changed. One can sense it, one can feel it, just not find the words for it. Children are not quite the same as we remember being. They seem less likely to take their cues from adults, less inclined to please those in charge, less afraid of getting into trouble. Parenting, too, seems to have changed. Our parents seemed more confident, more certain of themselves and had more impact on us, for better or for worse. For many, parenting does not feel natural. Adults through the ages have complained about children being less respectful of their elders and more difficult to manage than preceding generations, but could it be that this time it is for real? -- from Hold On to Your Kids

Scientists, educators, and parents of teens have long recognized the potency of peer influences on children and youth, but until recently, questions of how and why adolescents emulate their peers were largely overlooked. This book presents a comprehensive framework for understanding the processes by which peers shape each other's attitudes and behavior, and explores implications for intervention and prevention. Leading authorities share compelling findings on such topics as how drug use, risky sexual behavior, and other deviant behaviors "catch on" among certain peer groups or cliques; the social, cognitive, developmental, and contextual factors that strengthen or weaken the power of peer influence; and the nature of positive peer influences and how to support them.

Norbert feels the full weight of unwanted peer pressure when his friends scream at him to go along with the class. Can he resist and make the choice he should?