A total of 32 adult-child and peer dyads involving children of 9-10 years participated in an errand-planning task to see whether children who worked with adults gained from adults' expertise. Adult-child dyads explored a map more frequently, planned longer sequences of moves, and verbalized more planning strategies than did peer dyads. (RH)

Examined impact of assertion training on college students' ability to resist peer influence. The findings showed that 20 college students who had received assertion training were significantly more assertive and less conforming at posttest than were 20 students in a placebo control group. (Author/NB)

Surveyed 40 adolescent inpatients concerning peer influences, substance abuse, and treatment. Found that misconduct, including substance abuse, was predicted best by perceived peer pressure toward misconduct, low opinions of value of treatment by disposition to conform to antisocial peers, and sense of stigma associated with being treated by…

Examined late adolescents who drop out of church and others who remain committed to it. Survey of Seventh-day Adventist youth found commitment related to cognitive, experiential, and activity dimensions of religion. Ethical considerations, perception of one's importance to local congregation, and peer influence also played part in stepwise…

Three experiments examined peer imitation with 14- to 18-month-old infants in laboratory, home, and day-care settings. After a delay, infants imitated actions performed by trained peers. Found that infants' recall of peers' actions was lower for infants imitating actions at home after a two-day delay than for infants imitating actions in the…

Presents findings regarding human and vicarious influences in the lives of members of the North American Association for Environmental Education. Provides excerpts from 34 statements to illustrate the variety and richness of their narratives. (Author/CCM)

Describes the relationship between personal and perceived opposite-sex peer expectations and drinking behavior. As compared to themselves, participants believed that their opposite-sex best friend had greater expectations for the effects of alcohol. Perceived peer expectancies added to the prediction of self-reported drinking beyond that which is…

Examines gender differences in adolescents' (N=39) behavior during conflict resolution tasks with their best friends and differences in descriptions of those friendships. Results show that females were rated lower in withdrawal and higher in communication skills and support validation while males rated higher in conflict. (MKA)

Considerable evidence supports the hypothesis that peer relationships influence the growth of problem behavior in youth. Developmental research consistently documents the high levels of covariation between peer and youth deviance, even controlling for selection effects. Ironically, the most common public interventions for deviant youth involve…

In a religion class of 26 bright creative sixth graders, one student demonstrates the power of peer pressure. Part of the morning ritual is to say prayer petitions. Students seems to be calmed by their expressions of care for their families, friends, pets, their military troops, victims of natural disasters, the homeless, etc. However, one student…

Since friendship and peer relationships are particularly important to teenagers, students with passive aggressive behaviors frequently and intentionally "set up" more aggressive peers to get them to react and to lose control, guaranteeing a behavioral consequence. As a result, the victim of being set up or "manipulated" also ends up being…

A teacher-researcher uses the metaphor of recycling along a continuum to describe how teachers adapt the ideas of their colleagues with varying degrees of change based on their different contexts. The objective of recycling is not only to reduce waste but also to extend use and the key to lasting changes in mind is sustained participation in…

Aims: To investigate UK university student drinking in terms of social and motivational factors. Design: Quantitative and qualitative studies. Participants: Undergraduate students at a UK university: 50 "heavy drinkers" and 49 "light drinkers", equally distributed in terms of sex and year of study. Data: Questionnaire measures…

There is evidence of higher prevalence rates for alcohol use among rural adolescents relative to urban adolescents. Strategies aimed at preventing adolescent alcohol use typically include the development of social skills to resist peer pressure; among the social skills frequently targeted is assertiveness. Self-report data were collected from a…

Peers can influence each other's health lifestyle choices. However, limited research informs as to the factors that determine whether and how peers confront one another over their poor health lifestyle choices. We used Newell and Stutman's model of social confrontation as a theoretical framework to predict the manner in which college students will…