NCJ Number
228892
Journal
Journal of Early Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2009 Pages: 773-799
Date Published
December 2009
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This study examined differences in school-related academic and social behaviors at three grade levels spanning the onset of adolescence, and compared the independent and relative contributions of perceived peer group norms and parent values associated with these behaviors.
Abstract
Findings from the study do not support the notion that peers surpass the influence of parents across the three grade levels spanning late middle childhood and early adolescence. However, the findings do suggest that the behavioral differences across grade levels are related to increasingly negative perceptions of peers' social behavior between middle childhood and early adolescence, implying that the "pull" of peers is increasingly negative. Findings offer no support for the assertion that parents matter less in adolescence compared to middle childhood; however, they do offer novel insight into why youth may act less prosocially toward their peers. The findings of perceived parent expectations suggest that parents need to continue to convey their values about social expectations, as well as academic expectations throughout the transition to adolescence. Relatively little is known about the relative effects of peers and parents within discrete domains of behavior, particularly during late childhood and early adolescence. This study was designed to examine the relative associations among grade-level relevant, adaptive and maladaptive, academic and social (a) school-based behaviors, (b) perceptions of peer group norms for those behaviors, and (c) inferences of parent values about those behaviors during three distinct periods spanning the onset of adolescence when parents and peers are traditionally thought to compete for influence. Tables, appendix, notes, and references