Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents

• Edited by Mitchell J. Prinstein, and Kenneth A. Dodge.

Series: Duke Series in Child Development and Public Policy.

Scientists, educators, and parents of teens have long recognized the potency of peer influences on children and youth, but until recently, questions of how and why adolescents emulate their peers were largely overlooked. This book presents a comprehensive framework for understanding the processes by which peers shape each other's attitudes and behavior, and explores implications for intervention and prevention. Leading authorities share compelling findings on such topics as how drug use, risky sexual behavior, and other deviant behaviors "catch on" among certain peer groups or cliques; the social, cognitive, developmental, and contextual factors that strengthen or weaken the power of peer influence; and the nature of positive peer influences and how to support them.
This book will be useful to researchers, practitioners, and students in developmental, clinical, and school psychology; social work; education; criminology; public policy; and related disciplines. It will also serve as a supplemental text in graduate-level courses.

Table of Contents

Part 1. Introduction. M.J. Prinstein, K.A. Dodge, Current Issues in Peer Influence Research. Part 2. Peer Influence Mechanisms. B.B. Brown, J.P. Bakken, S.W. Ameringer, S.D. Mahon, A Comprehensive Conceptualization of the Peer Influence Process in Adolescence. F.X. Gibbons, E.A. Pomery, M. Gerrard, Cognitive Social Influence: Moderation, Mediation, Modification, and…the Media. T.J. Dishion, T.F. Piehler, M.W. Myers, Dynamics and Ecology of Adolescent Peer Influence. H. Blanton, M. Burkley, Deviance Regulation Theory: Applications to Adolescent Social Influence. Part 3. Altering Peer Influence Effects: Moderators and Interventions. W.M. Bukowski, A.M. Velasquez, M. Brendgen, Variation in Patterns of Peer Influence: Considerations of Self and Other. J.P. Allen, J. Antonishak, Adolescent Peer Influences: Beyond the Dark Side. D.A. Prentice, Mobilizing and Weakening Peer Influence as Mechanisms for Changing Behavior: Implications for Alcohol Intervention Programs. J. Berger, Identity Signaling, Social Influence, and Social Contagion. Part 4. Underexplored Contexts for Potential Peer Influence Effects. W. Furman, V.A. Simon, Homophily in Adolescent Romantic Relationships. J. Juvonen, A. Galván, Peer Influence in Involuntary Social Groups: Lessons from Research on Bullying.

Reviews

"This first-rate volume considers the mechanisms and processes involved in peer influence from a variety of conceptual and theoretical viewpoints and presents a fascinating sampling of new research." - Willard W. Hartup, Regents' Professor Emeritus, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, USA
"This remarkable volume from distinguished editors and contributors proposes original and compelling conceptual models….Many of the authors discuss general and specific implications of their work for prevention and intervention programs. This book would be an excellent text for advanced undergraduates, master's students, and beginning doctoral students in developmental, educational, school, and clinical psychology." - W. Andrew Collins, Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, USA

Author Biography

Edited by Mitchell J. Prinstein, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, and Kenneth A. Dodge, PhD, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, USA