Although the relation between teacher-student relationships and students’ peer status has been widely studied, teacher liking and relational closeness are generally considered positive resources despite inconsistent findings and the presence of teacher favorites. This systematic review synthesizes research on teachers’ liking of students, including relational closeness, support, preference, and the presence of teacher’s pets, as well as its associations with students’ peer status and the social climate of the classroom. A search of three academic databases identified 29 eligible peer-reviewed studies published since 1984, two of which spanned developmental categories. This review aimed to describe, contextualize, and synthesize the results of studies varying in design, developmental focus, and operationalization of teacher liking and peer outcomes. Overall, teacher liking was generally associated with more positive peer outcomes in middle childhood ( n = 7). However, findings were more mixed in late childhood and early adolescence ( n = 16), and adolescence ( n = 7). Teacher liking most consistently functioned as a social bridge when it remained relatively private, non-exclusive, and aligned with existing peer evaluations. In contrast, teacher liking is more often associated with peer resistance and social exclusion at the individual level, as well as a more negative classroom climate, when it is perceived as unfair or overt favoritism, as in the teacher’s pet phenomenon. Together, these findings suggest that the social correlates of teacher liking depend on developmental and classroom contexts, including visibility, perceived fairness, and alignment with peer norms. Implications for future research and educational practice are discussed.
Although peer perceptions of gender typicality are shaped by children’s social behavior how whether specific behaviors serve as gender signals consistently across contexts is not well understood. This project was grounded in the theoretical position that gender is a performative construct whose correlates are contextually dependent. Multilevel analyses were conducted with a sample of 337 older school-age girls (N = 179) and boys ( M age= 11.5 years) from mixed-gender schools in lower- and upper-middle-class neighborhoods in Montreal, Canada, and Barranquilla, Colombia, assessing group-context effects on the association between measures of physical and relational aggression and peer perceptions of gender typicality. Findings showed that relational aggression was positively associated with peer-perceived gender typicality at the individual level, whereas physical aggression showed no overall association. For both forms of aggression, the strength and direction of these associations varied significantly across peer groups. These variations were explained by peer group norms: children were more likely to be seen as gender-typical when their aggressive behavior matched what was common among same-gender peers and differed from other-gender peers. Additional moderations by place and socioeconomic status were observed, with stronger associations in Montreal and in upper-middle-class contexts. These findings highlight the importance of integrating peer relations research with critical gender theory to understand how the meaning of aggression for gender typicality is locally constructed rather than universal.
Despite the importance of close friends for emotional development during adolescence, little is known about how affective experiences within friendships affect physical well-being. Across two studies and samples, the current study examined the extent that behaviors that amplify affect, emotional reactivity, and autonomic physiological reactivity within the context of friendship interactions were associated with adolescents’ somatic symptoms of depression and anxiety cross-sectionally (Study 1) and over a one-year period (Study 2). In Study 1, 196 adolescents (Mage = 14.16, 67% girls) participated with a same-gender friend. They completed Problem Talk and Plan a Party friendship interactions that were coded for dwelling on negative affect and enhancing positive affect. Adolescents reported on positive and negative emotions before and after each task, applied sensors to assess physiological reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA, skin conductance levels; SCL), and reported on somatic symptoms. During Problem Talk, increases in negative emotions and SCL were associated with greater somatic symptoms, and increases in positive emotions were associated with lower somatic symptoms. During Plan a Party, enhancing positive affect related to lower somatic symptoms. In Study 2, 110 adolescents (Mage = 15.80, 75% girls) completed the same procedure as Study 1 and also reported on somatic symptoms again oneyear later. Increases in positive emotions after Problem Talk and increases in RSA during both tasks were associated with lower somatic symptoms over time. The current study provides evidence that emotional experiences within friendships are linked to adolescents’ reported somatic symptoms, particularly when considering positive emotional experiences.
Positive peer relationships are important to children’s wellbeing. Yet, little is known about the young children’s relationship development with agemates. We examined whether and how positive and negative peer behaviors change across phases of relationship formation, whether trajectories differ by age, and whether behaviors reflect individual children or specific dyads. Participants were 28 20- (M = 21.24 mos., range = 18.75—24.80 mos.) and 30- (M = 30.77 mos., range = 28.35—33.95 mos.) month-old toddlers as they became acquainted with one another over four months. Twelve toddlers were girls while 16 were boys. Each toddler was paired with two unfamiliar, same-age, same-gender toddlers for 18 play sessions for a total of 36 sessions per child (average time between sessions = 5.15 days; SD = 5.42). Play sessions were grouped into early, middle, and late relationship phases of six sessions each. Employing three-level cross-classified multilevel models, results indicated that older toddlers had a higher frequency of positive (but not negative) actions than younger toddlers in all three phases. The frequency of both their total positive and negative actions increased as relationships developed. For younger toddlers, the frequency of total positive and negative actions did not change over time. Children’s peer-directed positive and negative behaviors correlated to those of their partners in the late phase, suggesting emerging reciprocal relationships. Individual children’s negative, but not their positive, behaviors were consistent across their two partners: negative behavior operated as a stable characteristic of individual children, whereas positive behavior was specific to particular dyads. Together, these results indicate that toddler peer relationships form gradually and in age-differentiated ways: 30-month-olds’ positive and negative behaviors increased in frequency and became reciprocally correlated within dyads as relationships were established, 20-month-olds’ behaviors remained stable across phases, and negative behavior was a consistent attribute of individual children.
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.
