<p>The purpose of this essay has been to make clear how adolescents understand the phenomenon of being popular among peers. Two questions were tried to be answered: What does it mean to be popular? How does one become popular? Ten adolescents from ages 13 to 18 were interviewed, and this makes the basis of this essay.</p><p>Seven categories show the result. Social skills were found to be the most important characteristic. A popular adolescent were said to be outgoing, nice, pleasant, have a good sense of humor and also have a well developed feeling for how to behave in different social situations. The appearance did not matter, according to the interviewees. But the popular adolescents did dress in a way that corresponded to the majority of the peers. The body was not important at all. Most of adolescents were assumed to be neither more popular, nor less popular but instead right between these two conceptions – they were average popular. Popular adolescents had nothing in common, when it came to background. Achievements in school did not lead to popularity, but it was important to be well-informed about society, when to chat with peers. Generally, what leisure-time activities adolescents attended were said to have no affect on popularity. Finally, the interviewees thought almost everyone were aware of how popular he or she was, although they supposed that some adolescents could be more popular among peers, without being aware of it.</p><p>All together, this could roughly be said to be the way for adolescents to become popular among peers, according to this essay: develop your social skills, keep an eye on how your peers dress and follow their fashion and, finally, be well-informed about society. You do not have to do well in school, but show that you are in control of school and marks.</p>

abstract: Frederic Thrasher's early work with youth gangs in Chicago continues to influence contemporary gang research. Thrasher's basic premise, that conflict with outside groups facilitates strong interpersonal ties between adolescents, has yet to undergo quantitative analysis. Using data from Wave II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health ("Add Health"), this conflict is measured by the aggregate number of juvenile arrests for property and violent crimes in a community. Multivariate regression is conducted to explore the impact of police threat on number of friendship nominations, while logistic regression is conducted to see if police threat is impacting relationship strength between respondent's first male and female friend. The results from both the multivariate and logistic regressions do not support Thrasher's hypothesis. Implications for future research are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2011

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Smith (2003) suggested in an influential review paper that behavioural observation and sociometry were two potentially useful but under-utilized methods for the study of peers in youth sport. Despite this call, the methods used to study peers in sport remain largely focused on athletes’ perceptions through questionnaires and interviews (Murphy-Mills, Bruner, Erickson, & Côté, 2011). Thus, the purpose of this project was to examine sociometric status, competence, and athlete behaviour in a youth sport context using an observational coding system. Female volleyball players (N = 28; Mage = 15.94) from three competitive teams completed the sport competence and peer connection inventories (Vierimaa, Erickson, Côté, & Gilbert, 2012), and each team was videotaped during three practices. An observational coding system was developed and used to code athlete behaviours in a continuous, time-based manner and this data was compared across sociometric status groups. The results reinforce past research that suggests that sport competence is an important factor in gaining peer acceptance among youth (e.g., Weiss & Duncan, 1992). Behavioural profiles were constructed for each sociometric status group, which revealed differences between groups in relation to interactions with peers, coaches, and overall sociability. Rejected and neglected athletes appeared to be less sociable than average, interacting less with peers and coaches. Coaches also appeared to spend more time interacting with popular athletes who they viewed as more competent, and less with rejected and neglected athletes who they viewed as less competent. Thus, sociometry appears to be a useful approach with which to study young athletes’ behaviour in sport. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-20 13:50:52.64

From early on, social adjustment among peers is crucial to healthy development. Social status, a reflection of adjustment among peers, can be considered in terms of acceptance or likeability, and rejection, or dislikability, as well as popularity or reputational prestige in the peer group. Research finds meaningful links between peer status and social behaviors like aggression, but has not examined the role of dimensions of peer status in association with perceptions of the self. I conducted a set of studies examining associations among peer status (likeability, dislikability, and popularity) and self-perceptions (self-esteem and self-concept clarity), and social goals as moderators of these associations. In Study 1, I examined cross-sectional associations between peer-reported status and aggression and self-perceptions and social goals in adolescents. In Studies 2, 3, and 4, I experimentally examined the effects of peer status on the self, as well as social goals as moderators of these effects, in young adults using two newly developed manipulations of peer status. Contrary to my hypotheses, the results suggested that self-esteem and self-concept clarity were not directly associated with peer status, and that these associations largely did not differ based on social goals. However, further exploratory analyses revealed meaningful links among the study variables in youth and adults. Results have theoretical and practical implications for understanding peer status, the self, and aggression. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Understanding the mechanisms of poor decision making and risk behavior in adolescence is an important goal. Two important features of adolescence relevant to these concerns are the saliency of social acceptance and increased frequency of making decisions in the company of peers. The current study examines individual differences in susceptibility to peer influence and the effect of positive and negative social contexts on adolescent decision making. Fifty-five adolescents (11.2-17.6 years of age) completed measures of social susceptibility and risk behavior and subsequently underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing a simulated driving game in three conditions: alone, while being watched by peers, and after an event of social exclusion. Individual differences in susceptibility to peers predicted a decrease in adaptive decision making following exclusion by peers. Adolescents with greater self-reported engagement in substance use, risky sexual behavior, and aggressive behavior performed worse on the game following social exclusion. Neuroimaging results showed relatively greater activation in the striatum during risky decisions (Go through a yellow light) in the peer condition compared to the social exclusion condition. Whole-brain and region of interest analyses revealed a significant decrease in striatal activity during Go decisions following social exclusion. Adolescents who were more susceptible to peer influence and engaged in more risk behavior evidenced the greatest decreases in striatal activity after social exclusion. Results suggest that susceptibility to peer influence interacts with the experience of social exclusion to produce maladaptive decision making in adolescents. More broadly, the results demonstrate that individual differences and social contexts are both important factors affecting adolescent decisions and that changes in momentary levels of social acceptance can influence the quality of adolescent decisions in social situations. These findings suggest that the explanatory power of existing models of adolescent decision making could be extended by exploring individual differences in decision making within and across social contexts, including peer influence and social exclusion, to provide a more comprehensive account of which adolescents are prone to making poor decisions and when.

Alkohol är ett vanligt berusningsmedel i Sverige. Tidigare forskning har visat att familj och vänner påverkar ungdomars alkoholkonsumtion. Studiens syfte var att undersöka ungdomars upplevelse av vad som påverkade deras alkoholkonsumtion samt om skillnader fanns mellan landsbygd och stad. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten i undersökningen var Bronfenbrenners ekologiska modell. Metoden som användes var berättelser där ungdomar skrev om en situation där de druckit alkohol eller avstått samt öppna enkätfrågor. Deltagarna kom från två gymnasieskolor och var i åldrarna 15-20 år. Totalt 96 personer medverkade varav 68 tjejer. Resultatet visade att fest, vänner, eget beslut och resor var de faktorer som påverkade mest. På landsbygden påverkades ungdomarna mer av familj och släkt. I staden upplevde många det som jobbigt att vara ensam om att vara nykter. De vanligaste orsakerna att avstå från alkohol var dåliga erfarenheter, inget behov och roligt utan. Överlag hade ungdomar på landsbygden en mer avslappnad syn till alkoholkonsumtionen.

This study examined mechanisms by which sibling relationships may buffer the harmful effects of negative peer experiences on the psychological adjustment of children with mental retardation (MR) or learning disabilities (LD). The study broadened existing findings with typically developing children and examined the effects of sibling social competency training on peer experiences and the impact of sibling relationship qualities, including warmth and positivity, supportiveness, conflict, and negativity, on children’s loneliness, internalizing, and delinquent behavior problems. The participants included 100 families with children who were between 8 and 10 years old. The families had a sibling dyad in which the target child had MR (n = 36), an LD (n = 43), or was typically developing (n = 21), while siblings were typically developing. Parents, target children, and siblings completed questionnaires and interviews assessing family and peer relationships. Sibling dyads completed a video-taped interaction. Results indicated that, as predicted, children with an LD or MR experienced significantly lower rates of positive peer experiences and significantly higher rates of negative peer experiences than did typically developing children. They exhibited significantly higher rates of loneliness and internalizing, but not delinquent, behavior problems than typically developing children. There was only partial support for the hypothesized protective effects of siblings on children’s development of adverse peer experiences. In particular, there was an indirect effect of one form of social competency training: social involvement mediated the effect of learning disabilities on adverse peer experiences. As predicted by the buffering hypothesis, emotional supportiveness by siblings moderated the impact of negative peer experiences on children’s internalizing and delinquent behavior problems. In addition, negativity within the sibling relationship moderated the effect of negative peer experiences on children’s internalizing problems while sibling conflict moderated the effect of positive peer experiences on loneliness. There were no significant effects for sibling warmth and positivity. Findings that siblings of children with MR or an LD can buffer some of the harmful effects of adverse peer experiences on psychological well being in specific instances suggest that including siblings in interventions aimed at improving peer experiences and psychological functioning may be relevant under certain circumstances.

The influence of peers and peer norms is a significant health determinant of adolescent sexual activity, yet little is known in health education about differences between peer pressure and friend pressure on adolescents. The objective of this study was to investigate differences between social norms among friends and social norms among peers and determine if differences influence adolescents’ sexual risk perceptions. As a secondary data analysis of the 2006 Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors Survey data, this study included 915 adolescents in grades 8, 10, and 12 who completed questions pertaining to perceived sexual activity rates and perceived risks from having unprotected sex. T-tests, analyses of variance, and linear regression analyses indicated that adolescents perceived a difference between social norms among peers and social norms among friends and that these differences influenced risk perceptions differently. Future research should explore how social norms among friends influence adolescents’ risk behaviors and how to incorporate this focus into effective and efficient sex education efforts.