Peers as Agents of Socialization

Peers as Agents of Socialization

■ Peer relationships are a second social world for
children—
a world of equal-status interactions that is
very different from the social interactions children have
with adults.
■ Peers are social equals (not necessarily the same age),
who behave at similar levels of social and cognitive
complexity.
■ Sociability and the form of social interactions change
across development.
■ By age 18 to 24 months, toddlers’ sociable interactions
become complex and coordinated as they
reliably imitate each other, assume complementary
roles in simple social games, and occasionally coordinate
their actions to achieve shared goals.
■ During the preschool years, nonsocial activities and
parallel play become less common, whereas the social
skills that foster associative play and cooperative
play become more common.
■ During middle childhood, more peer interactions
occur in peer groups—groups of children who associate
regularly, define a sense of group membership,
and formulate norms that specify how group members
are supposed to behave.
■ Early adolescents spend even more time with
peers—particularly with their closest friends in small
cliques, and in larger groups of like-minded cliques,
known as crowds.
■ Cliques and crowds help adolescents forge an identity
apart from their families and pave the way for
the establishment
of dating relationships.
■ Children clearly differ in peer acceptance—the extent
to which other children like or dislike them.
■ Using sociometric techniques, developmentalists find
that there are five categories of peer acceptance:
■ Popular children: liked by many and disliked by few
■ Rejected children: disliked by many and liked by few
■ Controversial children: liked by many and disliked
by many
■ Neglected children: seldom nominated by others as
likable or dislikable
■ Average-status children: those who are liked or disliked
by a moderate number of peers
■ Social status with peers is related to a child’s temperament,
cognitive skills, and the parenting style she or he
has experienced.
■ The strongest predictor of peer acceptance is a child’s
pattern of social behavior.