Common problems of establishing independence, making friends, and mastering a new environment draw college students together and create a strong social cohesion which has considerable influence on students' attitudes and values. In many institutions the peer culture is estranged from the academic life of the campus. If student affairs…

This ethnographic study reports on the socialization processes of a white male as he assumes a central office position. Individuals are willing to be socialized as part of learning a new role as part of their upward mobility, and in order to please those around them. The organization demands certain types because the position addresses many…

The effects of different conditions of peer interaction on the conservation judgments of first and second grade children were investigated. Children were subjected to either a control group situation or one of four types of peer interaction (cognitive conflict, social interaction, modeling, or cognitive dissonance) in which they were presented…

Reviews several theories explaining adolescent drug use to provide background for describing peer cluster theory. Peer clusters dictate the shared beliefs, values, and behaviors that determine where, when, and with whom drugs are used. Peer cluster theory incorporates those psychosocial factors that promote or inoculate against drug use in youth.…

Adolescents' understanding of societal conflict and of compromise resolution in the context of peer and authority relations was investigated. Six conflict stories were prepared for three social issues, and adolescents were asked to develop dialogues from the stories. Responses were categorized on a three-point scale. (Author/LMO)

Six teachers who participated in a program to analyze their patterns of teaching with a partner were interviewed extensively. Their reactions and perceptions after working with their partner are reported. Three partnerships are described briefly. (Author/MT)

Examined the relationship among peer pressure, knowledge of alcohol, responsible attitudes toward drinking, family history, expectancies, and quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption in a sample of incoming freshmen (N=535) attending summer orientation. Found most consistent and potent predictor of the frequency and consumption of alcohol was…

Among preadolescents, use of "gateway" substances (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana) is rare. By high school, most students have normally established habits of use or nonuse. Because the occurrence of first and experimental use is most frequent during the years around puberty, programs targeting sixth and seventh grades seem most promising.…

A Missouri high school principal noted an increase in alcohol-related incidents. He asked the student council to determine the scope of the problem and develop any program they might deem necessary. The program they developed, called "Right Life Week," is described. (MD)

Charges that although the potent influence of the peer group on the psychosocial development of adolescents is undisputed, most clinical writings portray it in a one-sided vein. Proposes a more balanced view of adolescent group life with emphasis on the adaptive and growth-promoting aspects. (JAC)

A peer extinction procedure in which students refrained from laughing at or attending to a targeted student's inappropriate behavior decreased the adolescent learning disabled student's obscene language. (CL)

Resident advisers and their peers were compared regarding their alcohol use and its consequences, their perceived norms, and their helpfulness as sources of information and referral. Implications for alcohol education and resident adviser training programs are given. (Author/BL)

This article gives insight into why individuals become committed to a sport role. Commitment may be attributed to intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and satisfactions. A typology of sport roles is presented utilizing a three-dimensional model of commitment to explain identity within a sport role. (Author/DF)

Indicates that highly anxious preschool children reduced anxiety levels through play. Compared with low-anxious subjects, highly anxious children engaged in more dramatic/fantasy play forms. Imaginative qualities which children introduce in their play are more essential to the resolution of the conflict than social forms of play.(Author)

A study was conducted to see whether peer effects could be observed among 102 undergraduates at Williams College, an elite four-year liberal arts school. The study explored whether students in the bottom third of their class, with average Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores of about 1300, would perform better in writing about newspaper…