Development of friendships and peer groups

Question 1

Why are friends important?

Answer 1

Maunder & Monks, 2019
- development of social skills
- Links with mental health and school success
- development of social skills

Question 2

Whats the difference between a friend and a peer.

Answer 2

A peer is someone in the same friendship group where as a friend is someone you mutually like.

Question 3

What Research methods are used in Friendship research

Answer 3

• Observation
• Peer (sociometric) nominations
• Rating scales
• Paired comparisons of nominations/ratings
• social network analysis

Question 4

What is it meant by popular and rejected children?

Answer 4

Popular; good social skills, not aggressive
Rejected; Aggressive or withdrawn

Question 5

What is it meant by neglected or controversial children?

Answer 5

Neglected; less sociable and disruptive than average
Controversial; characteristics of popular and rejected, group leaders

Question 6

What are examples of social cognitive development?

Answer 6

• Cooperation
• Negotiation
• Mental state awareness
• Emotional awareness

Question 7

Do friendships support social cognitive development

Answer 7

Piaget believes that friendships lead to explanation of how the world works as well as coming up with explanations
Vygotsky believes that friendships help with skills for personal growth.

Question 8

Early friendship development (Selman, 1981)

Answer 8

Between 3 and 7:
- there may be disagreements over toys
Between 4 and 9:
- friendships are selfish, they occur because they are beneficial to each person

Question 9

Later friendship development (Selman, 1981)

Answer 9

Between 6 and 12:
- able to understand what it is like to have shared experiences
- concerned about who we like and dislike
Between 9 and 15:
- intimate relationships
- share personal problems
Between 12 and adulthood:
- can be independent and dependent

Question 10

How do children select friends (Epstein, 1989)

Answer 10

Proximity:
- young children have friends close older accept more distance
Same age:
- early and middle age children have friends the same age
Similarity:
- young children like similar location
- older like common interests

Question 11

What cues do children use to decide who they are friends with. Liberman & Shaw (2019)

Answer 11

• 3-5 year olds believe play is the most important
• 6-11 year olds find play to be more important than gender

Question 12

Infancy friendships Howes & Colleagues

Answer 12

• 12-18 months, smiles and reaches for specific peers
• 12-24 months, more likely to comfort specific peers
• 20 months, play with specific peers instead of others.

Question 13

Friends in early childhood

Answer 13

• Reciprocated friendships
• Friendships more likely with same gender
• some peers have more power than others

Question 14

Cross sex friendships (McDougall & Hymel, 2007)

Answer 14

81 % of 9-11 year olds agree that cross sex friendships exist

Question 15

Ethnicity and Friendship (Hamm, 2000)

Answer 15

• Majority of African Americans and European Americans had friends from the same background (80%)
• 60% of Asian Americans had friends from the same background

Question 16

Ethnicity and Friendship Bagci et al (2014)

Answer 16

• carried out in London, 684 (11 year olds)
• only 3% reported not having cross ethnic friends

Question 17

How do friends interact differently compared to non friends

Answer 17

• there is more pretend play
• there can be more conflict but also more likely to then resolve the conflict

Question 18

How are friends similar Haselager et al, 1998

Answer 18

• Friends have similar depression levels
• Girls are similar in levels of help they offer
• Boys are similar in shyness

Question 19

How are adolescent friends similar (Hartup 1998, and Hamm, 2000)

Answer 19

• similar attitudes to school and drug useage

Question 20

How do friendship groups differ (Lee, Howes & Chamberlain, 2007)

Answer 20

• girls have larger social networks
• girls had more ethnically diverse social networks
• gender is more important than ethnicity

Question 21

What is a clique

Answer 21

A type of friendship group but the members in the group don’t always see themselves as friends
- in young children same sex and race
- for validation and social reasons - older children
- adolescence belong to more than one clique

Question 22

What’s the parental role in children’s peer relations

Answer 22

Secure attachment = good social skills
Insecure attachment = aggressive
- Parental belief
- Coaching behaviour
- Modelling behaviour

Question 23

Types of bullying (Marini, Fairbairn, & Zuber, 2001)

Answer 23

Direct = Physical + cognitive
Indirect bullying = Social + Emotional

Question 24

Types of bullying (Marini, Fairbairn, & Zuber, 2001)

Answer 24

Behavioural = physical + social
Psychological = Cognitive + emotional

Question 25

Bullying Characteristics (Kljakovic & Hunt, 2016; Perry, Perry, & Kennedy, 1992)

Answer 25

• Mainly boys
• Power, hostility and reward (Motives)
• Aggressive
• Internalising problems
• Social problems

Question 26

Are friends protective factors?
(Hodges et al., 1999)

Answer 26

• Children without best friend internalised and externalised behaviour
• Having a best friend predicted decreases in victimisation

Question 27

Questions to Consider

Answer 27

What are the differences between a clique and crowd? To
support your answer, provide an example of each.

In what ways does having a friend ‘protect’ a child from being
bullied?