Peer Relations and Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Peers provide a context in which child and adolescent development occurs. Peers may right wayward developmental trajectories, buffering the effects of deleterious risk factors. Adverse peer experiences also may distort developmental pathways, contributing to psychopathology. Numerous distinct peer constructs that signal developmental perturbations have been identified and associated with indices of psychopathology. This chapter reviews peer experiences in early childhood (i.e., social withdrawal), school‐age youth (i.e., peer status, peer victimization, and friendship), and adolescence (i.e., peer influence) that are associated with psychological symptoms. This chapter highlights developmental psychopathology approaches for understanding transactions between peer experiences and multiple development systems. New directions for research, integrating affective neuroscience theories, psychophysiology findings, and more complex cascade models of development are discussed. The peer context is highly relevant for understanding psychological and even biological functioning in youth. Ongoing research integrates findings from the peer relations literature with research in related scientific disciplines.

A longitudinal examination of perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms in ethnic minority youth: The roles of attributional style, positive ethnic/racial affect, and emotional reactivity.

“…Given that the current study was able to model change in discrimination over time, it suggests that changes in peer discrimination in the high school period are particularly problematic in their prediction of depressive symptoms. This finding is consistent with past work finding that peer interpersonal stressors influence the development of depressive symptoms (Prinstein & Giletta, in press). …”

Transformation of Adolescent Peer Relations in the Social Media Context: Part 2—Application to Peer Group Processes and Future Directions for Research

“…For over 50 years, studies of peer relationships have identified the far-reaching influence of adolescents’ offline peer experiences on a variety of critical psychological, educational, behavioral, and physical outcomes (Almquist 2009; Almquist and Östberg 2013; Menting et al 2016; Modin et al 2011). Peer relations researchers have examined numerous peer processes, relationship types, behaviors, and reputations with implications for adolescents’ development and wellbeing (Choukas-Bradley and Prinstein 2014; Furman and Rose 2015; Prinstein and Giletta 2016; Rubin et al 2015). However, as social media becomes a central feature of adolescents’ lives, it is essential to better understand the ways that these peer experiences are shaped by the social media environment.…”

“…However, it is likely that, beyond dyadic interactions, social media has unique implications for adolescent’s experiences of group-based peer processes. Thus, in the current paper (Part 2), we expand on our prior work by applying the transformation framework to three broad peer relations constructs with critical implications for adolescent adjustment: peer victimization; peer status, acceptance, and rejection; and peer influence (Choukas-Bradley and Prinstein 2014; Furman and Rose 2015; Prinstein and Giletta 2016; Rubin et al 2015). Although these processes and behaviors may occur within dyadic relationships, they are especially relevant to understanding adolescents’ experiences within the larger peer network.…”

Lonely adolescents exhibit heightened sensitivity for facial cues of emotion

“…Particularly in adolescence, forming and maintaining positive social relationships is a key developmental task. During this period in life, social relations are very salient and powerful, and a frustrated need to belong may be particularly harmful for one’s well-being (Prinstein & Giletta, in press). Indeed, feeling lonely—a key indicator of a frustrated need to belong—marks an increased risk for psychopathology and health problems in adolescence (Heinrich & Gullone, 2006).…”

“…Moreover, the majority of previous work with children or adolescents used pictures or videos of adult faces. Given that differences in neural processing of facial emotions on adult versus adolescent faces have been documented in adolescents (Marusak, Carré, & Thomason, 2013), and given the increased attunement to peers in adolescence (Prinstein & Giletta, in press), this study made use of a recently developed and validated picture set of emotional expressions in adolescents (Egger et al, 2011). …”