Peers & Friends Flashcards
Peers:
other people of roughly the same age and status
Friends:
- reciprocated, voluntary, and equalitarian relationships among peers
- typically involves mutual affection, companionship, and shared history
Children are motivated to participate in PA to:
- develop and demonstrate physical competence
- develop or affirm social relationships (participate because they like being with friends)
- because it is fun and enjoyable
Children and youth live in ____ _____ worlds.
peer-rich
Where do children interact with peers?
- school (7+ hours/day)
- neighbourhoods
- organized activities
By virtue of time spent together, interactions with peers and friends are an important _____ context.
developmental
_____ are thought to have greater influences over time.
- peers
- friends
Why do peers have greater influences over time?
- concerns about social status increase
- social comparison increases
Why do friends have greater influences over time?
- increased independence from parents
- more time spent with friends
- cognitive development and perspective taking
Sources of competence information for children aged 5-9 years (____-____ orientation).
- task-goal
- prefer parent feedback
- mastery of simple tasks
- enjoyment of activities as markers of ability
Sources of competence information for youth aged 10-15 years (____-_____ orientation).
- ego-goal
- consider comparisons with and evaluations from peers and feedback from respected adults as credible sources of information on ability
Sources of competence information for youth aged 16+ years (____/____ - _____ orientation).
- task/ego-goal
- most frequently use self-referenced sources such as improvement, effort, enjoyment, and goal achievement
- still rely on social and outcome sources
Social need and key relationship for infancy (0-2 years):
- tenderness
- parents
Social need and key relationship for childhood (2-6 years):
- companionship
- parents
Social need and key relationship for juvenile (6-9 years):
- acceptance
- peers
Social need and key relationship for preadolescence (9-12 years):
- intimacy
- same-sex friend
Social need and key relationship for early adolescence (12-16 years):
- sexuality
- romantic partner
Social need and key relationship for late adolescence (16 years +):
- integration into adult society
- significant adults
Children are more physically active when ….
with a friend compared to alone
When alone, lean boys were _____ physically active than overweight boys.
more
When a peer was present, the overweight boys….
did the same amount of PA as lean boys
Presence of a unknown peer has a _____ effect for someone with overweight status, but not for someone with normal status.
positive
3 perceptions of friend influence:
- social support for PA
- friends’ modelling of PA
- co-participation in PA with friends
Limitations of surveys:
- tend to be for kids 10+
- relying on perceptions of children and adolescents
- assuming they know how active their friends are when they aren’t together all the time
Initiation of PA in the study of friendship influences (10-11) includes:
- co-participation
- modelling of being active
- giving verbal support
Maintenance of PA in the study of friendship influences (10-11) includes:
co-participation and enjoyment are the key factors
In the qualitative study of friend and sibling influences (5-6), parents reported that:
- friends influenced their child’s desire to attend structured PA sessions (the influence of friends exceeded the appeal of the activities in some cases)
- their child’s PA choices were not influenced by friends primarily due to having a strong personality
- sibling influence on PA was largely impromptu rather than structure activities
Impromptu:
- spontaneous
- unorganized
Negative peer experiences and the presence of _____, _____, and _____ peer experiences ______ PA.
- hostile
- negative
- critical
- decrease
Why do negative peer experiences decrease PA?
- psychological pain
- decreases the reinforcing value of PA which leads to lower PA
Ostracism:
intentionally ignoring or excluding someone
2 conditions while playing a cyberball game:
- ostracism
- inclusion (control)
Children who were ostracised where…
- less physically active
- more sedentary
The peer social context of childhood/adolescent obesity, characterized by ____ ____ and ____ _____, contributes to and reinforces overweight youths’ lack of ____ ____ and choice of ______ ______, which in turn promotes…
- social stigma
- peer difficulties
- PA
- sedentary alternatives
- the maintenance of their overweight status
Those with overweight/obesity reported ____ more minutes of screen time/day than did females who were not overweight and ____ of these minutes could be attributed to experiencing _____ _____.
- 34
- 2
- peer victimization
Social network theory is a research paradigm that focuses on…
relationships and connections among actors (ie. children)
With social network theory, friendships are embedded in thick webs of _____ _____ called ______ ____.
- social relations
- social networks
3 parts of social network theory:
- individuals (egos)
- dyads
- network structure
Social network theory assumes that:
- people are influenced by and act upon their network environment
- a persons position in the network influences their behaviour
Significance of PA in friends for ______, not ____.
- females
- males
Significant effects were observed for ______ ______ _____ friends, which means….
- best reciprocated male friends
- only tight friendships matter for males
The difference in PA between friends was _____ steps/hour lower than the difference in PA between children who were not friends.
20
What was found with unorganized PA?
no similarity found among female or male networks
What was found with organized PA?
similarity found among female and male networks
Similarity of PA could be due to:
- selection
- influence
Selection:
- people select friends who are similarly active
- less consistent evidence
Influence:
- friends influence one another’s PA participation
- more consistent, stronger evidence
Males are more active when they have ….
- more incoming friendship nominations
- out-isolate and in-isolate
Selection: active males are selected
more often as friends
Selection: inactive males are …
less often selected as friends
Influence: males with lots of friends…
have more opportunities to be physically active
Influence: males with none or few friends have…
less opportunities to be physically active
Loneliness:
a sad or aching sense of isolation along with a feeling of deprivation of, and longing for, association, contact, or closeness with others
Athletic ability:
how good a child’s peers say they are at sports and physical skills
Within PA programming we can incorporate ______ ____ _____ activities to support healthy relationships:
- relationships skill-building
- encouraging cooperation and teamwork
- providing opportunities for social interactions
- enhancing group cohesion
Friendship-based interventions target…
inactive friendship groups
Friendship-based interventions provide training for…
everyone on the importance of inclusion
Sociometric status:
the degree to which children are liked or disliked by other children within the peer group
Popular children:
- children who receive many “most like” ratings from the group
- receive very few, if any, “dislike” ratings
Rejected children:
- children who receive many “least like” ratings from the group
- receive very few, if any, “like” ratings
Neglected children:
children who don’t receive “like” or “dislike” ratings from the group
Rejected kids had:
- higher levels of loneliness
- lower levels of athletic ability rated by peers
Role of overweight:
- significantly less friendship nominations
- more likely to receive no friendship nominations
Opinion leaders:
those who influence the opinions, attitudes, beliefs, motivations and behaviours of others
Opinion leaders can be selected in different ways:
- self-selection
- staff selection
- sociometric methods
Peer supporters (AHEAD program):
- sociometric ratings (top 15%)
- 2 day training event
- asked to diffuse health promotion messages
Type of training for peer supporters (AHEAD program):
- education
- knowledge
- skills
- promote discouraging negative behaviour
AHEAD program:
- change diet and PA in high schools
- not successful, too complex
Critiques of AHEAD program:
- doesn’t reach at risk kids on the outskirts
- cliques
- peer supporters don’t know they have influence
How can coaches promote positive peer-interactions within PA?
- mix up peers
- encourage interactions
- setting ground rules at the beginning of the year
- ice breakers
- team bonding activities
How can parents promote positive peer-interactions within PA?
- modelling healthy behaviours
- encourage interactions
- teaching introducing yourself
- giving child more opportunities to make friends
- if you see a negative behaviour, fix it (discourage neg. peer interaction)
- set ground rules
PYD climate:
- empathetic relationships with leaders/coaches
- positive interactions with peers
- supportive involvement of parents
