Toward understanding the functions of peer influence:A summary and synthesis of recent empirical research

Compelling evidence demonstrates that peer influence is a pervasive force during adolescence, one that shapes adaptive and maladaptive attitudes and behaviors. This literature review focuses on factors that make adolescence a period of special vulnerability to peer influence. Herein, we advance the Influence-Compatibility Model, which integrates converging views about early adolescence as a period of increased conformity with evidence that peer influence functions to increase affiliate similarity. Together, these developmental forces smooth the establishment of friendships and integration into the peer group, promote interpersonal and intragroup compatibility, and eliminate differences that might result in social exclusion

Jari-Erik Nurmi (1956-2017)

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Predicting interpersonal competence and self-worth from adolescent relationships and relationship networks: Variable-centered and person-centered perspectives

A two-year longitudinal investigation examined adolescents\u27 (N = 100 girls and 99 boys) perceptions of social support in relationships with mothers, close friends, and romantic partners from Grade 10 (ages 14-16) to Grade 12 (ages 16-18). Adolescents, mothers, and close friends also provided descriptions of the participants\u27 global self-worth and interpersonal competence. Variable-centered and person-centered analyses revealed that perceived social support tends to be similar across relationships and stable over time. Variable-centered analyses indicated that social support in mother-adolescent relationships was uniquely related to adolescent global self-worth; that social support in close friendships was uniquely related to social acceptance, friendship competence, and romantic competence; and that social support in romantic relationships was uniquely related to romantic competence. Person-centered analyses indicated that adolescents who reported high social support in all three relationships had higher selfworth and greater interpersonal competence than those who did not have a romantic relationship and who reported low social support in relationships with mothers and close friends; and that scores for adolescents who had a romantic relationship but who reported low social support in all three relationships fell in between these two groups. Taken together, variable-centered analyses suggest that different relationships influence different dimensions of competence, but person-centered analyses indicate that a sizable proportion of adolescents have relationships that act in concert with one another. Copyright © 2006 by Wayne State University Press

Preference-for-Solitude and Adjustment Difficulties in Early and Late Adolescence

Social withdrawal has been associated with adjustment difficulties across development. Although much is known about shyness, little is known about preference-for-solitude; even less is known about its relations with adjustment across different periods of adolescence. We examined whether preference-for-solitude might be differentially associated with adjustment difficulties in early and late adolescence. Self- and parent-reports of withdrawal motivations and adjustment were collected from 234 eighth graders (113 boys; M age = 13.43) and 204 twelfth graders (91 boys; M age = 17.25). Results from structural equation modeling demonstrated that above and beyond the effects of shyness, preference-for-solitude was more strongly associated with adjustment difficulties in 8th grade than in 12th grade. Preference-for-solitude was associated with greater anxiety/depression, emotion dysregulation, and lower self-esteem in 8th grade; these relations were not found in 12th grade. Although preference-for-solitude was associated with lower social competence in both 8th and 12th grades, this relation was significantly stronger in 8th grade than in 12th grade. Findings suggest preference-for-solitude has closer ties to maladjustment in early adolescence than in late adolescence. Interventions targeting preferred-solitary youth in early adolescence may be particularly fruitfu

Perceived maternal disapproval of friends: How mothers shape and respond to child and friend adjustment problems

The present study examines relations between adjustment problems and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends in a sample of Lithuanian public middle-school students. The participants (ages 10 to 14) were 284 children (148 boys, 136 girls) who were involved in 142 stable friendships. Each friend described their own conduct problems, emotional problems, and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends twice during the same academic year (M = 14.4 weeks apart). Dyadic analyses replicated previous findings in that one friend’s conduct and emotional problems forecast changes in the same problems in the other friend. Greater initial problems also anticipated increases in children’s’ perceptions of disapproval of friends by their own—but not their friend’s—mother, highlighting maternal efforts to manage the relations of troubled children. These efforts met with mix success. On the one hand, maternal disapproval of friends did not result in subsequent declines in adjustment problems among their own children; to the contrary, the conduct problems of boys increased with greater maternal involvement. On the other hand, adjustment problems declined among children whose friends reported higher levels of maternal disapproval, suggesting that maternal friendship management may interfere with the spread of problems between children

Longitudinal associations between third-grade teaching styles and sixth-grade reading skills : a 3-year follow-up study

Background Most previous studies of teaching styles and reading skills have been cross-sectional. Longitudinal research is needed to clarify the direction of effects. The present longitudinal study examined the degree to which differences in teaching styles in the third grade predict the sixth-grade reading performance. The consistency of the findings was addressed by comparing results across students in two countries (Finland and Estonia). Methods A total of 1,057 students (50.9% boys) were followed from the third to sixth grade. Teaching styles of third-grade teachers (N = 70) were examined as predictors of the development of reading (i.e., third-grade to sixth-grade reading fluency and comprehension). Results Five patterns of third-grade teaching practices were found across two countries: child-centred style, teacher-directed style, child-dominated style, extreme child-centred style, and mixed child-centred and teacher-directed style (mixed teaching style). The mixed teaching style and the child-centred style in the third grade were related to the greatest increases in reading fluency from the third to sixth grade, over and above the contribution of age, gender and maternal education. Conclusions The findings underscore the importance of the flexible use of child-centred and teacher-directed practices, which are both linked to the development of reading fluency during late primary school years.Peer reviewe

The gene–environmental architecture of the development of adolescent substance use

Background: Using a longitudinal twin design and a latent growth curve/autoregressive approach, this study examined the genetic-environmental architecture of substance use across adolescence. Methods: Self-reports of substance use (i.e., alcohol, marijuana) were collected at ages 13, 14, 15 and 17 years from 476 twin pairs (475 boys, 477 girls) living in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Substance use increased linearly across the adolescent years. Results: ACE modeling revealed that genetic, as well as shared and non-shared environmental factors explained the overall level of substance use and that these same factors also partly accounted for growth in substance use from age 13 to age 17. Additional genetic factors predicted the growth in substance use. Finally, autoregressive effects revealed age-specific nonshared environmental influences and, to a lesser degree, age-specific genetic influences, which together accounted for the stability of substance use across adolescence. Conclusions: The results support and expand the notion that genetic and environmental influences on substance use during adolescence are both developmentally stable and developmentally dynamic

Associations between mother-child relationship quality and adolescent adjustment : using a genetically controlled design to determine the direction and magnitude of effects

This study used a genetically controlled design to examine the direction and the magnitude of effects in the over-time associations between perceived relationship quality with mothers and adolescent maladjustment (i.e., depressive symptoms and delinquency). A total of 163 monozygotic (MZ) twins pairs (85 female pairs, 78 male pairs) completed questionnaires at ages 13 and 14. Non-genetically controlled path analyses models (in which one member of each twin dyad was randomly selected for analyses) were compared with genetically controlled path analyses models (in which MZ-twin difference scores were included in analyses). Results from the non-genetically controlled models revealed a) child-driven effects in the longitudinal associations between adolescent perceived maternal support and depressive symptoms, and b) parent-driven a nd child-driven effects in the longitudinal association between perceived maternal negativity and adolescent delinquent behaviors. However, results fr om the genetically controlled models revealed only child-driven effect, suggesting that, purported parent-driven effects were a product of error arising from potential gene-environment correlations (rGE)

The spread of substance use and delinquency between adolescent twins

This investigation examines the spread of problem behaviors (substance use and delinquency) between twin siblings. A sample of 628 twins (151 male twin pairs and 163 female twin pairs) drawn from the Quebec Newborn Twin Study completed inventories describing delinquency and substance use at ages 13, 14, and 15. A three-wave longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) identified avenues whereby problem behaviors spread from one twin to another. Problems did not spread directly between twins across domains. Instead, two indirect pathways were identified: (1) Problems first spread inter-individually (between twins) within a behavioral domain, then spread intra-individually (within twins) across behavioral domains (e.g., Twin A delinquency Twin B delinquency Twin B substance use); and (2) problems first spread intra-individually (within twins) across behavioral domains, then spread inter-individually (between twins) within a behavioral domain (e.g., Twin A delinquency Twin A substance use Twin B substance use). Controls for genetic effects, gene-environment correlations, friend substance use and delinquency, and parenting behaviors increase confidence in the conclusion that twin siblings uniquely contribute to the spread of problem behaviors during adolescence. Twin sibling influence is a risk factor for illicit substance use, both because substance use by one twin predicts substance use by the other twin, but also because delinquency in one twin predicts delinquency in the other twin, which then gives rise to greater substance use

Perceived maternal disapproval of friends: How mothers shape and respond to child and friend adjustment problems

CC BY 4.0The present study examines relations between adjustment problems and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends in a sample of Lithuanian public middle-school students. The participants (ages 10 to 14) were 284 children (148 boys, 136 girls) who were involved in 142 stable friendships. Each friend described their own conduct problems, emotional problems, and perceptions of maternal disapproval of friends twice during the same academic year (M = 14.4 weeks apart). Dyadic analyses replicated previous findings in that one friend’s conduct and emotional problems forecast changes in the same problems in the other friend. Greater initial problems also anticipated increases in children’s’ perceptions of disapproval of friends by their own— but not their friend’s—mother, highlighting maternal efforts to manage the relations of troubled children. These efforts met with mix success. On the one hand, maternal disapproval of friends did not result in subsequent declines in adjustment problems among their own children; to the contrary, the conduct problems of boys increased with greater maternal involvement. On the other hand, adjustment problems declined among children whose friends reported higher levels of maternal disapproval, suggesting that maternal friendship management may interfere with the spread of problems between children