B. Bradford Brown

The Multidimensionality of Peer Pressure in Adolescence.

A sample of 689 adolescents (grades 7–12) from two Midwestern communities who had been identified by peers as members of one of three major peer groups responded to a self-report survey measuring perceptions of peer pressure in five areas of behavior: involvement with peers, school involvement, family involvement, conformity to peer norms, and misconduct. Perceived pressures toward peer involvement were particularly strong, whereas peer pressures concerning misconduct were relatively ambivalent. Perceived pressures toward misconduct increased across grade levels and pressures to conform to peer norms diminished; grade differences in perceived peer pressures concerning family involvement were community specific. Compared to druggie-toughs, jock-populars perceived stronger peer pressures toward school and family involvement, and less pressure toward (stronger pressure against) misconduct; patterns of perceived pressure among loners were more variable across communities. Results elaborated the process of peer influence in adolescent socialization and identity development.

Primary Attachment to Parents and Peers during Adolescence: Differences by Attachment Style.

This study examines the nature of adolescent attachment to parents and peers during adolescence. A projective measure was used to classify 99 11th and 12th grade students into secure, insecure dismissing, and insecure preoccupied attachment groups. Respondents identified their primary attachment figure by nomination and by rating the level of attachment support they received from mothers, fathers, best friends, and boy/girlfriends. On average, parents and peers were equally likely to be identified as primary attachment figures but individual preference was strongly tied to attachment style. Secure adolescents significantly favored mothers over best friends, boy/girlfriends, and fathers. Although secure adolescents with romantic partners rated mothers lower on attachment support, none of the adolescents from this group nominated a boy/girlfriend as their primary attachment figure. In contrast insecure adolescents indicated a strong preference for boy/girlfriends and best friends as their primary target for attachment and nearly a third of dismissing adolescents identified themselves as their primary attachment figure. Findings are discussed in terms of individual differences in attachment during adolescence.

The world's youth adolescence in eight regions of the globe

1. The kaleidoscope of adolescence: experiences of the worlds youth at the beginning of the 21st century B. Bradford Brown, Reed W. Larson and T. S. Saraswathi 2. Demographic trends affecting youth around the world Elizabeth Fussell and Margaret E. Greene 3. Adolescence in sub-Saharan Africa: an image constructed from Africas triple inheritance A. Bame Nsamenang 4. Adolescence in India: street urchins or Silicon Valley millionaires? Suman Verma and T. S. Saraswathi 5. Adolescence in China and Japan: adapting to a changing environment Harold W. Stevenson and Akane Zusho 6. Youth in Southeast Asia: living within the continuity of tradition and the turbulence of change Madelene Santa Maria 7. Arab adolescents facing the future: enduring ideals and pressures to change Marilyn Booth 8. Adolescents in Russia: surviving the turmoil and creating a brighter future Anna Stetsenko 9. Adolescence in Latin America: facing the future with skepticism Carlos Welti Chanes 10. Adolescents in Western countries in the 21st century: vast opportunities - for all? Jeffrey Jensen Arnett 11. Adolescence in global perspective: an agenda for social policy T. S. Saraswathi and Reed W. Larson.

Social and psychological correlates of help-seeking behavior among urban adults

Drawing from a longitudinal survey of 1,106 urban adults aged 20 to 70, the present study investigated whether persons who sought help from informal and/or formal support systems for major troublesome life changes were distinguishable from those who handled problems without assistance in terms of demographic background, personal resources, social networks, or psychological barriers to help-seeking. Generally, nonseekers who felt self-reliant and respondents who sought assistance from informal associates exclusively seemed well prepared to manage bothersome transitions, crises, or role-related strains. Nonseekers who were reluctant to ask for assistance as well as help-seekers who only contacted professionals were comparatively more at risk.

Adolescents, peers, and motor vehicles: the perfect storm?

Motor-vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death among teenagers and in many instances appear linked to negative peer influences on adolescent driving behavior. This article examines a range of developmental and structural factors that potentially increase the risks associated with adolescent driving. Developmental risk factors for adolescents include a propensity toward engaging in deviant and risky behavior, a desire to please peers, and the potential cost to an adolescent of alienating peers with his or her behavior while driving. Structural features of the driving situation that create risks for negative peer influences on driving behavior include the inability of adolescents to look at peers who may be pressuring them, divided attention, the need to behave in a conventional manner among peers who may not value conventional behavior, and the lack of accountability by peers for the effects of any risky driving they promote. A range of potential peer influences are considered, including passive and active distraction and direct disruption of driving, as well as more positive influences, such as peer modeling of good driving behavior and positive reinforcement of good driving. Although the range of risk factors created by peers is large, this range presents a number of promising targets for intervention to improve teen driving safety.

Early Adolescents' Perceptions of Peer Pressure

To examine the nature of peer pressures perceived by early adolescents, 373 students in grades 7-12 were asked to indicate, on a 12-item index, the degree and direction of peer pressures they perceived from friends and acquaintances, and to describe their personal attitudes and behavior in areas corresponding to index items. Analyses revealed that peers were seen as encouraging misconduct less than other types of behavior. Females reported stronger peer pressure than males toward conformity (to peer norms) and social involvement, but the genders did not differ in perceptions of misconduct or pro-adult pressures. Associations between perceived pressures and personal attitudes or behavior were significant but modest, and sometimes were mediated by gender or grade level. Findings are discussed in light of previous research on conformity and Newman and Newmans postulates concerning early adolescent identity development.

From Facebook to cell calls: Layers of electronic intimacy in college students’ interpersonal relationships

Communication technologies are widely used to manage interpersonal relationships, but little is known about which media are most useful at different stages of relationship development, and how the pattern of usage may be influenced by contextual factors or users’ gender. Drawing on theories of relationship development, this study examined usage patterns among 34 college students participating in six geographically stratified focus group interviews. Analyses revealed a sequence of media use tied to stages of relationship development − from Facebook in early stages to instant messaging and then cell phones as a relationship progressed. Judgments about the efficacy and appropriateness of using a medium were based on how well its salient features matched prominent goals or addressed major concerns of a relationship at the given stage. International students added two technologies to the sequence to accommodate time differentials and distance from communication partners. Males were less explicit about the sequence, except when referring to cross-sex relationships.

The World's Youth: The Kaleidoscope of Adolescence: Experiences of the World's Youth at the Beginning of the 21st Century

A century ago people were intrigued by a new invention, the forerunner of the modern kinescope. By inserting a strip of paper containing a series of pictures into a drum, then spinning the drum while peering through a set of slits around the drum’s perimeter, one could watch the pictures on the paper slowly coalesce into a repetitive set of coordinated movements. From the drum’s disparate pictures, a single, moving picture appeared before one’s eyes. In many respects, our understanding of adolescence at the outset of the 21st century mimics this instrument of entertainment from Victorian parlors. We spin together the related but distinctive features of life for youth around the world and discern a common image of their movement from childhood into adulthood. At a superficial level the pictures coalesce to give the impression that young people worldwide share the same challenges, interests, and concerns. We speak of the emergence of a “global youth culture” (Schlegel 2000), in which young people – at least in the middle class – wear the same clothing and hair styles, listen to some of the same music, and adopt similar slang expressions. We remark on how the world is “shrinking” by virtue of new technologies (e.g., the Internet) that bring people from far-flung corners of the globe into close contact with each other. We emphasize the commonality of experience among youth as opposing ideologies falter and economic systems begin to meld. The provocative opening sentence to A. Bame Nsamenang’s contribution to this volume (see Chapter 3), however, challenges any satisfaction we might take in this kinescopic image. “Adolescent psychology,” he

The Vital Agenda for Research on Extracurricular Influences: A Reply to Holland and Andre

On the whole, studies of extracurricular participation in secondary school have been surprisingly bereft of a conceptual framework, rife with methodological problems, and prone to include overstatements or “overinterpretations” of findings. Holland and Andre’s (1988) recent review of this literature points out these shortcomings, but provides an unduly beneficent or optimistic summary of many studies and stops short of the decisive directives needed to yield more enlightening studies. I emphasize the compelling needs to derive appropriate conceptual/theoretical frameworks, to expand samples and methods, to focus more on processes of influence than on differences in outcomes between participants and nonparticipants, and to study extracurricular influences within the broader context of high school students’ lives.

Drug and alcohol abuse among the elderly: is being alone the key?

Despite the rising incidence of drug and alcohol abuse among the elderly, information concerning the social and psychological factors fostering such abuse is scanty and potentially biased toward the limited number of older abusers who obtain professional help. Using a brief interview with carefully selected samples, the present study compares characteristics of social background and social support among 21 older clients (age 55 and over) of drug treatment facilities, 30 older abusers not in treatment, and 155 elderly nonabusers. Analyses suggest that age and gender affect the likelihood of receiving treatment for substance abuse more than the likelihood of being an abuser. Controlling for age and gender effects, substance abuse appeared more prevalent among single and divorced elderly and among respondents who lived alone; presence or absence of living companions was more influential than relationships with nearby social supports. Implications for health and social service programs as well as for further research are discussed.