Although concerns about peer contagion are often cited in critiques of group treatments for troubled youths, few studies have examined the effects of exposure to deviant peers in residential group care settings. This study used administrative data of youth served at Boys Town, a nationally-known group care provider. Using latent class growth…

Data is brought to bear on the social influence hypothesis, according to which the behavior of one bystander influences other bystanders by providing information leading to a definition of the situation. The study placed a subject in an emergency situation in which one of 3 confederates served as a model: (1) male peer; (2) female peer; or (3)…

The validity of the Self-Disclosure Inventory and of the theoretical framework in which Jourard sets self-disclosure was investigated. Sixty-seven male and fifty-one female college students from various fraternity and sorority organizations were used as subjects. The Self-Disclosure Inventory for the extent of disclosure to the subject's best…

A study was conducted with students in grade 9 in two Ontario schools, with one group receiving six periods of drug education and the control school none at all. The peer-oriented program led to more knowledge about drugs, but no differences in the use of drugs or in attitudes. (Author)

Drawing on case study data from an urban school, examines the elementary school classroom as a setting for children's learning of culturally appropriate modes of informal work group behavior. Concludes that schools temper the spontaneity, solidarity, and autonomy that pupils can enjoy in their informal relations with one another. (Author/GC)

The effects of class size, classroom organization, and grade on friendship choice and clique formation were examined using cross-sectional and longitudinal sociometric data. Classroom characteristics affected friendliness and popularity, incidence of cross-sex friendships, number of social isolates per class, and number and size of cliques.…

Gathered data on arcade use in adolescents (n=460). "Regular" arcade visitors varied sufficiently from the more "casual" visitors in their orientation to, and experience in, arcades. Regular visitors were more likely to score positively on indices screening for addiction. Raises questions about children's access to potentially…

FOR 5 WEEKS, 2 OBSERVERS MADE DAILY VISITS TO A LABORATORY PRESCHOOL TO COLLECT INFORMATION ON THE AMOUNT AND KINDS OF POSITIVE SOCIAL REINFORCEMENT CHILDREN GIVE TO EACH OTHER IN NURSERY SCHOOL. SEVENTY CHILDREN (AGED 3 YEARS 4 MONTHS TO 4 YEARS 9 MONTHS) WERE GROUPED INTO 2 OLDER AND 2 YOUNGER CLASSES. EACH CHILD WAS OBSERVED IN RANDOM ORDER FOR…

This chapter addresses the potential implications of mutual antipathies for children's experiences with the peer group as well as the behaviors and perceptions that may drive dyadic disdain. It raises four questions for consideration: (1) What are the demographics of dyadic disdain?; (2) How do enemy relationships relate to preadolescents' broader…

This paper focuses on the theory and rationale of assessing the social behavior of children. It is asserted that child social behavior must be assessed accurately in order to do research on socialization. Socialization is defined as the process by which an individual learns to interact with others. It is proposed that it is possible to design a…

This research is based on two types of analyses. A cultural analysis focuses on the Hawaiian-American family and socialization system and is used to generate and interpret interface analysis findings. The second type of analysis concerns Hawaiian-American behavior in public school classrooms. The goal of the combined analyses is to specify points…

This paper investigates the formation and evolution of friendship cliques among preadolescent youths. An understanding of these patterns can aid teachers in influencing social relations and the behavior of their students. Two sets of sociometric data were collected to analyze children's friendship cliques. The relationship among the variables of…

The nature of the relationships among contemporary family variables and school achievement is examined in this collection of articles. Divided into two parts, the collection examines related processes and issues. In the first part, the chapters and authors are: (1) "The Family-School Relationships Model" (Bruce A. Ryan and Gerald R.…

Research indicates Native American children view themselves more negatively than their Anglo counterparts and many self-concept enhancement techniques attempted with Indian pupils fail because they have been predicated on Anglo behavior patterns such as self-praise, teacher praise, popularity, and self-pride programs or competition, personal…