Stability of Children and Adolescents\u27 Friendships: A Meta-Analytic Review

Decades of research has assessed the benefits of children’s and adolescents’ friendships, but friendships among youth often dissolve within a matter of months or years. Studies have investigated predictors and consequences of friendship stability with the expectation that, in order for friendships to have a positive or negative influence on youth, they need to be enduring. However, differing methodology used to assess friendships affects the proportion of stable friendships observed, which may confound conclusions. In this meta-analysis a number of methodological and substantive study comparisons were made to assess their contribution to differences in effect sizes across studies of friendship stability. Evaluation of the impact of methodological moderators can inform whether there are differences in methodology that can significantly bias effect sizes of friendship stability. Results suggest that time lag between measurement occasions and presence or absence of a school-year transition impacts friendship stability. However, despite differences in methodology, most differences investigated did not significantly impact friendship stability. This supports the validity of the conclusions drawn from literature on friendship stability

Financial Adaptation Among College Students: Helping Students Cope with Financial Strain

This study examines the impact of the recent financial crisis on co-occurring patterns of change in financial strain and financial coping behaviors of college students (N=748) using two-timed, longitudinal data collected prior to the 2008 financial crisis and again one year later. Using a stress and coping framework, we found that different measures of perceived change in financial strain acted as antecedents of change in types of financial coping behaviors. We discuss the importance of these findings in developing the financial decision-making skills that young adults need in an era of increasing responsibility for their financial futur

Structural equation modeling of mediation and moderation with contextual factors

This work was supported in part by grants from the NIH to the University of Kansas through the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (5 P30 HD002528), the Center for Biobehavioral Neurosciences in Communication Disorders (5 P30 DC005803), an Individual National Research Service Award (F32 MH072005) to the second author while at the University of Kansas, an Individual National Research Service Award (F32 DA016883-03) to the fourth author while at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a NFGRF grant (2301779) from the University of Kansas to the first author. This work was also partly supported by grants to the first author from NSF (BCS-0345677), the Merrill Advanced Study Center at the University of Kansas (Mabel Rice, director), and the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology (SMEP)

A meta-analysis of longitudinal peer influence effects in childhood and adolescence.

For decades, psychological research has examined the extent to which children’s and adolescents’ behavior is influenced by the behavior of their peers (i.e., peer influence effects). This review provides a comprehensive synthesis and meta-analysis of this vast field of psychological science, with a goal to quantify the magnitude of peer influence effects across a broad array of behaviors (externalizing, internalizing, academic). To provide a rigorous test of peer influence effects, only studies that employed longitudinal designs, controlled for youths’ baseline behaviors, and used “external informants” (peers’ own reports or other external reporters) were included. These criteria yielded a total of 233 effect sizes from 60 independent studies across four different continents. A multilevel meta-analytic approach, allowing the inclusion of multiple dependent effect sizes from the same study, was used to estimate an average cross-lagged regression coefficient, indicating the extent to which peers’ behavior predicted changes in youths’ own behavior over time. Results revealed a peer influence effect that was small in magnitude (β¯ = .08) but significant and robust. Peer influence effects did not vary as a function of the behavioral outcome, age, or peer relationship type (one close friend vs. multiple friends). Time lag and peer context emerged as significant moderators, suggesting stronger peer influence effects over shorter time periods, and when the assessment of peer relationships was not limited to the classroom context. Results provide the most thorough and comprehensive synthesis of childhood and adolescent peer influence to date, indicating that peer influence occurs similarly across a broad range of behaviors and attitudes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved

JBD773461_supplementary_material - Lag as moderator meta-analysis: A methodological approach for synthesizing longitudinal data

<p>JBD773461_supplementary_material for Lag as moderator meta-analysis: A methodological approach for synthesizing longitudinal data by Noel A. Card in International Journal of Behavioral Development</p

Effects of Defending: The Longitudinal Relations Among Peer‐Perceived Defending of Victimized Peers, Victimization, and Liking

Previous research has shown victims of peer aggression to be positively impacted by being defended by peers, but how enacted defending impacts defenders themselves is not thoroughly understood. In this study, the longitudinal associations between peer‐perceived liking, enacted defending, and defender\u27s own victimization were investigated among 336 adolescents (M age = 13.21 years). Peer perceived liking was expected to predict defending. It was also hypothesized that a reputation for defending victimized peers would be related to being perceived as less victimized and more liked over time. Results showed that peer perceived liking was not predictive of defending. Enacted defending was associated with a decrease in victimization over time, but also a decrease in peer‐perceived liking. Defenders may benefit from enacted defending by decreasing their own victimization, but this benefit is nuanced

Defenders of Victims of Peer Aggression: Interdependence Theory and an Exploration of Individual, Interpersonal, and Contextual Effects on the Defender Participant Role

The research on predictors and effects of defending victims of peer victimization and bullying continues to grow, but most research on this topic is lacking a strong theoretical framework. This review of defending research introduces interdependence theory as a theory with the capacity to organize many of the empirical findings from the existing defending literature into a meaningful whole. Other theories used to frame defending research are described, and limitations of these theories are discussed. Framing defending research within interdependence theory leads to new research questions. These include: (1) who defends whom and why?, (2) through what processes do individuals in the peer group internalize peer group norms in regard to peer victimization, and how do these internalized norms affect individual perceptions and beliefs that then guide behavior?, and (3) what are the individual and interpersonal factors that affect whether bystanders defend peers, and how does intervention in peer victimization situations affect defenders in addition to victims? Framing defending research within interdependence theory allows for the organization of previous findings and will guide new research