Research has rarely examined how culturally relevant peer processes shape sleep among ethnic‑racially minoritized adolescents. Using two-wave daily diary data from 183 ethnic-racially minoritized adolescents (Mage = 14.6 years, 51% female), this study examined how peer ethnic-racial discrimination and different forms of ethnic-racial socialization from friends and other peers (cultural socialization, preparation for bias, and support against discrimination) were associated with sleep outcomes at the within- and between-person levels. Sleep was assessed using actigraphy and self-reports. Nonlinear associations between peer ethnic-racial discrimination and actigraphy sleep duration were observed at both the within- and between-person levels. At the within-person level, on days when adolescents reported higher than their typical levels of discrimination from peers, they exhibited greater daytime dysfunction. Support against discrimination moderated the association between peer discrimination and self-reported sleep duration, such that discrimination was associated with longer sleep only on days when support against discrimination was typical or lower than usual. At the between-person level, adolescents who reported greater peer ethnic-racial discrimination and socialization tended to show poorer sleep. All three peer ethnic-racial socialization indicators also moderated the nonlinear association between discrimination and actigraphy sleep duration, such that this association was stronger among adolescents reporting higher average levels of peer ethnic-racial socialization. Findings highlight that ethnic-racial socialization from friends and other peers may not be uniformly protective for sleep health in the context of discrimination; its implications for sleep may vary depending on whether it operates as immediate support after discrimination at the daily level or as repeated peer socialization over time.
This study examined adolescent friendship instability, defined here as changes in friendship bonds (dissolution, formation, or change in closeness), as a marker likely to predict attachment state of mind, romantic relationship quality, and physical health outcomes in adulthood. Utilizing a multi-method, prospective, longitudinal design, 184 adolescents (67 male and 87 female) were followed from ages 13 to 30. Controlling for gender, family-of-origin income, and race/ethnicity, higher rates of friendship instability from ages 13 to 18 predicted relative declines in attachment security from age 14 to age 24, lower self-reported physical health at age 26, relative decreases from adolescent friendship quality to romantic relationship quality at age 27, and accelerated epigenetic pace of aging at age 30. Higher attachment insecurity at age 24 significantly mediated the associations from adolescent friendship instability to increased pace-of-aging at age 30. Friendship instability may reflect a form of social stress, which is further perpetuated through its potential impacts on attachment security over time, and has lasting implications for romantic relationship behaviors and physical health in adulthood.
The purpose of this preregistered scoping review was to evaluate the empirical support for the premise that intrapersonal motivations for displaying solitary behavior are associated with the behavioral expression of socially withdrawn behavior. Abstract screening and full-text reviews resulted in the inclusion of 16 studies that included separate assessments of socially withdrawn behavior and at least one type of social withdrawal motivation. These studies involved 4577 participants (Mage = 6.31 years). Across studies, there was little evidence to support the notion that teacher-, parent-, and self-reported motivations for children’s social withdrawal (e.g., shyness; unsociability) are associated uniquely and prospectively with the behavioral display of socially withdrawn behavior, in general. Moreover, we found no evidence uniquely linking specific motivations for social withdrawal to specific forms of socially withdrawn behavior.
As goals pertaining to one’s power position in the peer group are predictors of bullying perpetration, improving our understanding of youth’s popularity motivations is crucial. This preregistered study examines motivations geared toward desirable popularity outcomes (promotion-focused) and avoiding undesirable popularity outcomes (prevention-focused). Within both, novel popularity motivation subconstructs are introduced which capture youth’s priority, change and absolute level motivations, as well as traditionally measured general popularity motivations. In addition to these popularity engagement motivations, popularity disengagement in the form of popularity disinterest is also measured. It is examined how these subconstructs are related to youth’s own popularity, bullying and prosocial behaviors among 202 students from Dutch 4th-6th grade classrooms using self- and peerreports in a school-based survey. Results showed that general and absolute level promotion-focused popularity motivations, general, priority, change and absolute level prevention-focused popularity motivations, and popularity disinterest are all distinct concepts which could be measured reliably. Moreover, higher levels of popularity were associated with stronger popularity promotion motivations, stronger priority, change and absolute level prevention motivations, and weaker popularity disinterest. Stronger bullying involvement was associated with stronger general and absolute level prevention motivation, with stronger assisting of bullies additionally being associated with stronger general and absolute level promotion motivation, and weaker popularity disinterest. Higher levels of prosocial behavior were associated with stronger absolute level prevention motivation. These results confirm the existence of multiple new popularity motivation subconstructs and illustrate especially the relevance of lowest tolerable absolute level of popularity (prevention absolute level) for both bullying and prosocial behavior.
Abstract: This study examined whether adolescents’ perceptions that specific classmates drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes were associated with friendship and popularity nominations toward those classmates, beyond the classmates’ own self-reported substance use. Two-wave longitudinal classroom network data were used from the SNARE project, collected in October and December 2012 from 34 Dutch classrooms ( N = 675; mean age at Wave 1 = 14.33 years; mean classroom proportion of girls = 47.7%). At both waves, students nominated their best friends, classmates they perceived as popular, and classmates they believed drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes. Peer-perceived use refers to these classmate-specific nominations of who drank or smoked. Students also reported their own alcohol and cigarette use. Bayesian multiplex stochastic actor-oriented models were estimated separately for drinking alcohol and smoking to model changes in friendship, popularity, and peer-perceived substance use networks. Adolescents were more likely to send friendship nominations to classmates they perceived as drinkers or smokers, even after adjusting for those classmates’ self-reported use. Peer-perceived use was not associated with sending popularity nominations to those classmates. In contrast, classmates who self-reported drinking, but not smoking, received more popularity nominations than classmates who did not self-report drinking. These findings suggest that peer perceptions of substance use are especially relevant for friendship selection, whereas self-reported drinking was more clearly associated with broader popularity in the classroom.
Whereas social status and functioning have been studied extensively in childhood and adolescence by means of peer reports, less is known about status and functioning in emerging adulthood and in novel peer groups. Although youths’ peer groups are relatively stable and primarily interact within structured school settings, emerging adults experience greater variability in their social contexts, which makes obtaining peer reports during this life phase more challenging. Moreover, previous research has shown that emerging adults’ social status and functioning are related to their interpersonal adjustment, but the behavioral correlates of social status and functioning remain understudied. Therefore, it was investigated how social behaviors were associated with emerging adults’ perceptions of peers’ social status and functioning. Employing the traditional unfamiliar peer group paradigm, 301 unfamiliar emerging adults (52% female, 46% male, 2% other, M age = 22.89, SD age = 2.12, age range = 18–25 years) interacted in 79 groups of three or four participants. Participants and independent observers rated all group members’ social behaviors (i.e., social engagement, friendliness, skillful leadership, and influence). Participants also rated each other’s social status and functioning. Mixed effects models demonstrated that peer-reported social engagement was consistently and positively linked to all dimensions of social status and functioning (i.e., visibility, vulnerability, inhibition). The social behaviors in this study were least related to the vulnerability dimension. The current study showed that even in the more variable social contexts of emerging adulthood, social behavior with peers is systematically linked to perceptions of social status and functioning.
In this paper we address the overlooked prospect that physical health shapes adolescent friendship outcomes. To this end, we introduce the social availability framework of adolescent health, which conceptualizes physical health as a developmental context for adolescent friendship development. The proposed framework describes how physical health impacts opportunities and capacity to establish and sustain strong friendships. Whereas good health supports adolescents’ presence and engagement with peers, health challenges can disrupt core processes that facilitate friendship formation and maintenance. Specifically, poor health is theorized to limit opportunities for repeated peer interaction, reduce perceived similarity or social fit among peers, and deplete the energy required for emotional responsiveness with friends. By synthesizing interdisciplinary theory and evidence, the framework identifies specific pathways through which health may structure and affect adolescent social life, generating testable hypotheses for future research. The social availability framework establishes physical health as both an outcome of peer relationships and a developmental antecedent of adolescents’ friendship opportunities.
Past research indicates that daily peer victimization is associated with adolescent mood disturbances, but the pathways underlying such links remain unclear. The current study used daily diary data to test sleep as a mechanism explaining cross-day associations from peer victimization to mood. Participants were 195 adolescents in the Midwestern USA (Mage = 16.48, SD = 0.53; 66% female) who completed brief assessments of peer victimization, sleep, and negative and positive mood for 14 consecutive days. Although previous-day peer victimization was not directly associated with next-day mood, victimization was indirectly associated with next-day negative and positive mood via two sleep indicators. Specifically, previous-day peer victimization predicted poorer same-night sleep quality and, in turn, increased negative mood and decreased positive mood the next day. Previous-day peer victimization also predicted greater next-day sleep-related dysfunction (i.e., daytime sleepiness and lethargy) and, in turn, increased negative mood and decreased positive mood. Indirect effects via sleep duration and latency were not significant. The findings implicate sleep quality and daytime dysfunction as specific mechanisms in the link from adolescents’ daily peer victimization to mood fluctuations, highlighting potential intervention targets to disrupt the acute emotional toll of peer stress.
Abstract: Reciprocal (also known as reciprocated) and unilateral (also known as unreciprocated) friendships are common in preschool, but are children sensitive to differences in these relationships? How does dyadic relationship quality predict the longitudinal trajectories of unilateral and reciprocal friends? A sample of 148 US children ( M age = 49.73 months, SD = 7.36; 45.95% girls; 80% White, 15% Asian, 5% Black) completed sociometric interviews in fall, winter, and spring of a school year, and teachers rated dyadic relationship qualities (intimacy, support, conflict) in fall and spring. Reciprocal friends nominated and ranked each other within the top five nominations. Unilateral friends were in a nominator's top five but did not reciprocate the nomination at all. Within nominators, particularly those with high peer acceptance, reciprocal were ranked higher than unilateral friends, and intimacy was higher in reciprocal than unilateral friendships, especially for older children. Longitudinal trajectories of unilateral and reciprocal dyads provided proxies for models of friendship formation and stability, respectively. Intimacy, support, and conflict were used as predictors of changes in dyads' mutual attraction (mutuality in friendship nominations) and play preference (mutual ratings of preferences for each other in play) in winter and spring. In both friendship processes, fall support positively predicted winter play preferences, and spring intimacy predicted concurrent play preferences. However, support was central to formation, whereas intimacy predicted stability. Results suggest that preschoolers are sensitive to variations in interpersonal chemistry among their liked peers and that relationship quality relates to friendship outcomes within both friendship formation and friendship stability.
Abstract: Previous research has highlighted physical ability to be an important factor for adolescents' social acceptance and peer relationships in physical education. However, it has not yet been highlighted whether students of different physical ability and gender differ in their preferences for selecting peers in physical education. A sample of 472 students (48.1% girls) from 21 grade 5 classes in Germany completed questionnaires to assess the role of physical ability in team partner selection in physical education. Using exponential random graph models, this study examined differences in team partner nominations based on physical ability, friendship, and gender for students of different physical ability and gender. Results show that high-performing students and boys were more frequently chosen as team partners and that high-performing students emphasized the physical ability of their peers significantly more than low-performing students. Additionally, all students preferred to play with their friends and peers of the same gender, and no differences in team partner selection could be observed for boys and girls. Further analyses revealed that low-performing students were rarely chosen as team partners, especially by high performers. The findings highlight the prominent role of physical ability for peer relationships in physical education and demonstrate how students' selection patterns drive differences in the social acceptance of high- and low-performing students.
Do adolescents who feel more confident at defending victims of bullying help victims more often, or does defending make adolescents feel more confident? This three-wave and multi-informant study examined bidirectional relations between defender self-efficacy and defending behaviors among a total of 1,093 Chinese adolescents (50.3% girls; M age = 13.20 years, SD = 0.89). Cross-lagged panel models provided partial evidence for bidirectional associations. The random intercept cross-lagged panel models yielded significant associations at the between-person level while not finding clear prospective effects at the within-person level. These findings support between-person differences in defender self-efficacy and defending behaviors and suggest that anti-bullying strategies can focus on the group level.
Adolescence is a critical period for developing the skills to foster high-quality relationships, which in turn are likely to have implications for physical health across the lifespan, including autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulation. Although cross-sectional evidence links supportive behavior to adaptive physiological arousal, the long-term associations between positive characteristics of adolescent friendships and stress responsivity remain poorly understood. The current study investigated how emotional support and success in caregiving in adolescent friendships potentially predict future physiological reactivity to stress in adulthood. It also examined attachment security in early adolescence as a predictor of emotional support and caregiving success in young adult romantic relationships, as well as potential indirect pathways between these constructs and physiological reactivity to stress. Participants were from a longitudinal study of social development (N = 184; 99 female, 85 male). Provision of emotional support and caregiving success were assessed via observations of a caregiving task with a close friend at ages 13–15 and with a romantic partner at ages 23–25. Attachment security was measured at age 14, and pre-ejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity at age 29. Results indicated that emotional support given to friends predicted PEP decreases (SNS engagement) and RSA decreases (PNS disengagement) in response to stress, while greater caregiving success with friends predicted RSA decreases. Findings also identified provision of emotional support to romantic partners in young adulthood as a mediator of the association between early adolescent attachment security and PEP and RSA reactivity. These results underscore the potential unique contributions of positive qualities in adolescent friendships to adult physiological functioning.
Abstract: As goals pertaining to one’s power position in the peer group are predictors of bullying perpetration, improving our understanding of youth’s popularity motivations is crucial. This preregistered study examined motivations geared toward desirable popularity outcomes (promotion-focused) and avoiding undesirable popularity outcomes (prevention-focused). Within both, novel popularity motivation subconstructs were introduced that captured youth’s priority, change, and absolute level motivations, as well as traditionally measured general popularity motivations. In addition to these popularity engagement motivations, popularity disengagement in the form of popularity disinterest was also measured. How these subconstructs were related to youth’s own popularity, bullying, and prosocial behaviors among 202 students from Dutch fourth- to sixth-grade classrooms was examined using self- and peer reports in a school-based survey. Results showed that general and absolute level promotion-focused popularity motivations; general, priority, change, and absolute level prevention-focused popularity motivations; and popularity disinterest are all distinct concepts that can be measured reliably. Moreover, higher levels of popularity were associated with stronger popularity promotion motivations; stronger priority, change, and absolute level prevention motivations; and weaker popularity disinterest. Stronger bullying involvement was associated with stronger general and absolute level prevention motivations, with stronger assisting of bullies additionally being associated with stronger general and absolute level promotion motivations and weaker popularity disinterest. Higher levels of prosocial behavior were associated with stronger absolute level prevention motivation. These results confirm the existence of multiple new popularity motivation subconstructs and illustrate especially the relevance of lowest tolerable absolute level of popularity for both bullying and prosocial behavior.
Prosocial risk-taking behavior, defined as taking risks to help others, may play an important role in shaping adolescents' peer status. However, prior research has failed to distinguish between different forms of risk-taking, resulting in inconsistent findings regarding their associations with adolescent peer status. This the relation between prosocial risk-taking behavior and peer acceptance and popularity separately and to examine the potential moderating role of leadership in these associations. Results indicate that prosocial risk-taking behavior significantly predicted peer acceptance over and above the effects of negative risk-taking and prosocial behavior, but its main effect on popularity was nonsignificant. Moderation analyses revealed that leadership significantly moderated the relation between prosocial risk-taking behavior and popularity. Specifically, prosocial risk-taking behavior predicted higher popularity only among adolescents with higher leadership status among peers, and the association was nonsignificant among those with lower leadership. In contrast, prosocial risk-taking behavior predicted peer acceptance regardless of leadership level. The current results highlight the importance of prosocial risk-taking behavior for adolescent peer relationships and suggest that fostering such behaviors may increase peer acceptance, particularly among those with higher leadership levels.
Friends are assumed to be particularly influential at the onset of adolescence, as adult oversight declines and the salience of peers increases. The present longitudinal study tested this claim, comparing the strength of friend influence over academic achievement during late childhood (grades 4-5, ages 8 to 11) to that in early adolescence (grades 6-7, ages 11 to 14) in youths from the United States (Florida) and Lithuania. Participants included 278 children (151 girls, 127 boys) in 139 stable reciprocated best friend dyads and 266 young adolescents (133 girls, 133 boys) in 133 stable reciprocated best friend dyads. Three measures of academic achievement were collected at the beginning and end of a single school year: peer nominations and self-reports of school performance and academic grades from school records. Results from longitudinal dyadic analyses revealed age group differences in all three indices of academic achievement. In both groups, friends influenced one another, becoming more similar on peer, self-, and school reports of academic achievement over time. In each case, however, the magnitude of friend influence was greater in the early adolescent sample than in the late childhood sample. Replication is a strength of the study: Similar results emerged across locations, suggesting that the findings are robust and generalize across different contemporary Western contexts.
The transition to college presents challenges for students as they form new peer relationships while experiencing varying degrees of belonging within the college community. This study investigated with cross-sectional social network analysis how self-reports of residential program and classroom belonging associated with social and academic networks among a sample of first-year college students that, controlling for each other, residential program belonging but not classroom belonging was significantly associated with students' social and academic networks. Additionally, after accounting for other factors, underrepresented minority students, particularly Black and multiracial students with low residential program belonging, were more likely than White students to hang out with peers across the broader residential college community. Findings highlight the importance of students' sense of belonging for relationships with peers in the transition to
Although sport participation can have positive benefits for athletes, there are also unique risks for receipt of aggression. Bullying and hazing occurs across teammates in this setting and can have detrimental physical and psychological effects on athletes. This systematic review was designed to explore the sport literature to (1) uncover conceptualizations and associated prevalence of bullying and hazing and (2) elucidate factors related to bullying and hazing. PRISMA guidelines were followed when completing the review, and 38 studies were included. Prevalence rates vary from less than 10% to over 70% across studies, and most studies sampled athletes from the United States or Canada. Factors associated with bullying or hazing experiences included younger athlete ages, newcomer status on team, increased Machiavellianism, aggressive-coercive personality styles, male gender, lower ability or skill level, and social norms for aggression. To strengthen future research in this area, scholars should more intentionally follow American Psychological Association’s Journal Article Reporting Standards and should ensure that chosen definitions and measures of bullying and hazing are reliable and valid in selected samples. Furthermore, it is impossible to consistently understand prevention and intervention efficacies related to bullying and hazing until researchers can define and delineate between varied forms of teammate-to-teammate aggression.
This study examines whether selection, deselection, and influence processes contribute to political homogeneity in young adults. Political similarity in newly formed friendships and enduring friendships is distinguished. Using two cohorts from Swiss StudentLife Study (N=921; M age at baseline = 20.1 (SD = 3.6); 18.4% female; 29.0% Non-Swiss) and applying stochastic actor-oriented models, the co-evolution of friendships, defined as an outgoing friendship nomination, and political attitudes was examined. The results provided no evidence that political attitudes significantly affect the formation or maintenance of friendships, nor do influence mechanisms shape political homogeneity. No evidence was found that relationship duration strengthened the influence process. These findings suggest that in contexts of relatively low political engagement and polarization, such as among Swiss students, political attitudes are not a significant factor in the formation or maintenance of social relationships, and peers do not affect each other’s political attitudes.
This study examined the bidirectional, longitudinal relationship between loneliness and affective peer status (positive and negative) during the transition from late childhood to early adolescence, also focusing on potential sex differences in these dynamics. Using data from a representative sample of 4,462 Polish students (Mage = 9.9, SD = 0.33; 51.0% girls at Wave 1), a two-wave cross-lagged panel model was applied to assess these associations over 1.5 years. The results confirmed the hypothesis of a reciprocal relationship between loneliness and peer status over time: a higher level of loneliness predicted lower positive peer status and higher negative peer status and vice versa. In turn, the findings challenged the asymmetry hypothesis, which posited that negative peer status was more strongly associated with loneliness than positive peer status, indicating instead that both types of peer status predict loneliness to a similar extent. However, sex differences emerged: loneliness in girls was more strongly linked to positive peer status, while boys’ loneliness was more affected by negative peer status. Moreover, negative peer status demonstrated greater stability over time compared to positive peer status. This study supported the reciprocal nature of loneliness and peer status, highlighting their dynamic interplay rather than a unidirectional effect. Additionally, while the asymmetry hypothesis was not supported, it was observed that the effects may differ between sexes. Therefore, future research should refine theoretical models by considering sex-specific patterns and their implications for interventions aimed at improving peer relationships and reducing loneliness during the transition into early adolescence.
