Peergroups and evolution of the self-system in adolescence

Abstract

This study aims to exploring the importance of peer groups, how belonging to different types of groups affects the actual perception of oneself, the peer group and other groups, and the perception of difficulty in coping with developmental tasks. 600 adolescents from Bologna, Italy filled out a questionnaire, consisting of three parts. The results show that peer groups are important in adolescence lifes. Overall, 90% of the subjects were members of a peer group; most often they belonged to informal or quasi-informal groups.A smaller percentage belonged to formal groups, like to sport or religious groups. The scopes to meet the groups were most often for amusement and also for talking about one's personal problems.Surprisingly, the differences of descriptions of oneself and the own group, oneself and the self-defined outgroup, oneself and drug abusers, did not differ considerably among informal and formal groups. Also informal and formal groups described the ingroups equally favorably and outgroups equally unfavorably. Moreover the results show that informal and formal groups did not differ in the perception of difficulty in coping with developmental tasks.These results indicate that the type of groups is not a crucial variable in explaining differences in evolution of the self-system in adolescents.

Do Substance Use and Delinquency have Differential Associations with Adolescents’ Peer Relations?

“…Although variously referred to as developmental tasks, transitions, standards and challenges (Havighurst, 1972;Nurmi, 1993;Petersen, 1988), age constraints (Neugarten, Moore, & Lowe, 1965), or role transitions (Caspi, 1987;Elder, 1985), theories and descriptions of adolescence invariably include achieving satisfying relations with same-age peers as an important aspect of successful adolescent and young adult development (Coleman, 1980;Dreher & Oerter, 1986;Erikson, 1968;Havighurst, 1972;Petersen, 1988). Having friends and being accepted by peers is very important to adolescents subjectively (Berndt, 1982;Brown, 1990;Brown, Eicher, & Petrie, 1986;Crockett, Losoff, & Petersen, 1984;Palmonari, Pombeni, & Kirchler, 1989), and friends have been described as "developmental advantages" in terms of healthy socioemotional development (Hartup, 1989).…”

Social Networking Sites: Mediating the Self and its Communities

“…Peer groups are particularly important for adolescents (Palmonari, Pombeni & Kirchler, 1989) being integrally associated with successful coping with the developmental challenges of adolescence (Palmonari, Kirchler, & Pombeni, 1991). Adolescents have always encountered new communities and been concerned with self-presentation (Livingstone, 2008, p. 394), but social networking provides and amplifies these traditional processes (Gross, 2004;Yang & Brown, 2012).…”

Dinâmicas grupais na adolescência

“…Embora o grupo assuma funções de suporte diferentes consoante a idade dos adolescentes, esse convívio possibilita a construção de amizades e desempenha um papel emocional e instrumental de crucial significado no desenvolvimento do adolescente (Palmonari et al, 1989;Sedas Nunes et al, 1989; .…”

“…Ainda no campo da dinâmica intergrupal, alguns estudos realizados por Palmonari et al (1989Palmonari et al ( , 1990Palmonari et al ( e 1992 Para constituir esta amostra, escolheu-se aleatoriamente um sujeito em cada turma e pediu-selhe para trazer consigo três dos seus amigos mais próximos. Definiram-se, assim, 6 grupos do 7.º ano em que 3 são formados por adolescentes do mesmo sexo e 2 por rapazes e raparigas.…”