Peer Relationships

This study examined the role of pro-victim attitudes, personal responsibility, coping responses to observations of bullying, and perceived peer normative pressure in explaining defending the victim and passive bystanding behavior in bullying. A total of 462 Italian early adolescents (mean age = 13.4 years, SD = 9 months) participated in the study. The behaviors were measured through two informants: each individual student and the teachers. The findings of a series of hierarchical regressions showed that, regardless of the informant, problem solving coping strategies and perceived peer normative pressure for intervention were positively associated with active help towards a bullied peer and negatively related to passivity. In contrast, distancing strategies were positively associated with passive bystanding, whereas they were negatively associated with teacher-reported defending behavior. Moreover, self-reported defending behavior was positively associated with personal responsibility for intervention, but only under conditions of low perceived peer pressure. Finally, the perception of peer pressure for intervention buffered the negative influence of distancing on passive bystanding tendencies. Future directions are discussed.

The aim of the present study was to examine to what degree different mechanisms of moral disengagement were related to age, gender, bullying, and defending among school children. Three hundred and seventy-two Swedish children ranging in age from 10 to 14 years completed a questionnaire. Findings revealed that boys expressed significantly higher levels of moral justification, euphemistic labeling, diffusion of responsibility, distorting consequences, and victim attribution, as compared with girls. Whereas boys bullied others significantly more often than girls, age was unrelated to bullying. Moral justification and victim attribution were the only dimensions of moral disengagement that significantly related to bullying. Furthermore, younger children and girls were more likely to defend victims. Diffusion of responsibility and victim attribution were significantly and negatively related to defending, while the other dimensions of moral disengagement were unrelated to defending.

Adolescence is a critical period in which significant developments occur in social-emotional learning skills and peer relationships. Therefore, it will be important to know which variables are effective in social-emotional learning skills and peer relationships and to determine whether there is a relationship between these two skills. This study is a cross-sectional field study based on the model of the quantitative descriptive survey. The research group of the research consists of 364 students between the ages of 14 and 18, those who are located in the Provincial Center, those who are associated with Bilecik Provincial Directorate of National Education in Turkey within the 2019-2020 Academic Year and those who continue their high school education. For the research data, Social-Emotional Learning Scale developed by Totan (2018) and Peer Relationships Scale developed by Kaner (2000) and personal information form about students were used. As a result of the findings, it was found that adolescents had the highest score in the sub-dimensions of responsible decision-making and commitment and the lowest in self-disclosure and loyalty. Selfawareness and relationship skills, which are the sub-dimensions of social-emotional learning, affect the peer relationship. Besides peer relationship was found to be positively associated with social-emotional learning.

Çocukların yaşadığı akran zorbalığı ve uygulanan müdahale yöntemleri çocuğun sosyal gelişimi açısından önemlidir. Bu araştırmanın amacı öğretmenlerin akran zorbalığına ve zorbalıkla baş etme stratejilerine ilişkin görüşlerinin incelenmesidir. Nitel araştırma yöntemine göre desenlenmiş çalışmada ulaşılabilir örneklem yolu ile 8 okul öncesi öğretmeni, 8 sınıf öğretmeni, 6 rehber öğretmen ve 8 ortaokul branş öğretmeni olmak üzere toplam 30 öğretmenden yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme soruları kullanılarak veriler toplanmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen veriler içerik analizi yöntemi kullanılarak araştırmacılar tarafından gruplandırılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda öğretmenlerin büyük bir çoğunluğunun akran zorbalığını “Akranların birbirlerine gösterdikleri baskı” şeklinde tanımladıkları görülmüştür. Okul öncesi ve sınıf öğretmenlerinin sınıflarında en çok fiziksel zorbalık yaşandığını ifade ederken; ortaokul branş öğretmenlerinin sınıflarında en çok sözel zorbalık yaşandığını belirttikleri görülmüştür. Ayrıca öğretmenlerin büyük bir kısmı okul olarak akran zorbalığını önlemeye yönelik politikaların olmadığını ifade etmişlerdir.

The aim of the present study was to investigate how basic moral sensitivity in bullying, moral disengagement in bullying and defender self-efficacy were related to different bystander behaviors in bullying. Therefore, we examined pathways that linked students' basic moral sensitivity, moral disengagement, and defender self-efficacy to different bystander behaviors in bullying situations. Three hundred and forty-seven teenagers completed a bullying survey. Findings indicated that compared with boys, girls expressed higher basic moral sensitivity in bullying, lower defender self-efficacy and moral disengagement in bullying. Results from the SEM showed that basic moral sensitivity in bullying was negatively related to pro-bully behavior and positively related to outsider and defender behavior, mediated by moral disengagement in bullying, which in turn was positively related to pro-bully behavior and negatively related to outsider and defender behavior. What differed in the relations between outsider and defender behaviors was the degree of defender self-efficacy.

Recently NATURE published a discussion on construction of sills in attempt to prevent or slow melting glaciers that are discharging ice into the ice fjords. Several further papers promptly followed publication of this essentially erroneous article in a respected NATURE magazine. Here it is pointed out that there is a discrepancy of several magnitudes thus excluding a long-term viability to manage the edges of ice fjords or continental ice shelves/sheets due to a phenomenon known as the mega-erratics. These are blocks of hard rocks that are several kilometres in size that have been dislocated by a warmed and wet edges of glacier/ice sheet/ice shelf. This Parliament evidence points out the error that was not apparent to the peer-reviewers at the time and in subsequent papers that followed. The Parliament was shown evidence that large enough obstacles cannot be possibly made to prevent ice discharges due to a progression of melting, that softens and lubricates glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets. The forces unleashed by the ice front exceeds several magnitudes from the conceived objects that sills were proposed. The only, and very only effect is temporary and limited to prevention of warm water incursion where these methods will work for a while in a cold, dry, and relatively stable ice formations. A long-term projections suggested to prevent warmed and water-infested glaciers from discharging ice into the ocean cannot be made as the forces of ice exceed many magnitudes of the sills and levies that can be made of concrete blocks, aggregates or other materials. Thus the prevention of sea level rise by this method for centuries or millennia is not functional one and thus the mitigation and prevention of rubbish gyros in ocean, the supply of housing, nuclear and food production security must be looked at as solution by the ocean littoral states. Several examples of various types of risk to the sustainability of oceans have been presented in addition to the above exposed misconception. This comes with much regret as it appears that one 'hoped-for-solution' to manage the future climate change impacts has largely foundered on the issue that the sills cannot be made strong enough to contain most important, warmed glaciers or edges of unstable ice shelves. However, for a short-term this may offer small-scale solutions provided that costs remain sufficiently small. Aggressively melting ice formations with darkened surfaces, wide spread melt water ponds, or water filled crevasses it does not offer much, if any, prolonged ice stability. (The document is best viewed as a .pdf file due to the lay-out of graph and legends.)

This study examined whether student–teacher relationship quality at the individual level and student–teacher relationship quality and peer climate at the class level were associated with being a bully, a victim, a bully/victim, or uninvolved in school bullying, controlling for gender, age, socioeconomic status and immigrant background at the individual level and socioeconomic status at the class level. Data from the Swedish Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey from 2017/2018 were analyzed. In the current study, a sample of 3,578 students from 213 school classes was included. The findings showed that student–teacher relationship quality at the individual level was associated with a lower probability of being a bully, a bully/victim, or a victim compared to being uninvolved. In addition, class climate at the class level was associated with a lower probability of being a bully/victim or a victim compared to being uninvolved. Supportive class climate and student–teacher relationship is thus important dimensions to focus on in the everyday bullying prevention in school.

This study investigated early adolescent friendship selection and social influence with regard to academic motivation (self-efficacy and intrinsic value), engagement (effortful and disruptive behavior), and achievement (GPA calculated from report card grades) among 6th graders (N = 587, 50% girls at Wave 1; N = 576, 52% girls at Wave 2) followed from fall to spring within 1 academic year. A stochastic actor-based model of social network analysis was used to overcome methodological limitations of prior research on friends, peer groups, and academic adjustment. Evidence that early adolescents sought out friends who were similar to themselves (selection) was found in regard to academic self-efficacy, and a similar trend was found for achievement. Evidence that friends became more similar to their friends over time (influence) was found for all aspects of academic adjustment except academic self-efficacy. Collectively, results indicate that selection effects were not as pervasive as inf...

This is a novel investigation of whether, and how, a single close supportive friendship may
facilitate psychological resilience in socio-economically vulnerable British adolescents. A
total of 409 adolescents (160 boys, 245 girls, four unknown), aged between 11 and
19 years, completed self-report measures of close friendship quality, psychological
resilience, social support, and other resources. Findings revealed a significant positive
association between perceived friendship quality and resilience. This relationship was
facilitated through inter-related mechanisms of developing a constructive coping style
(comprised of support-seeking and active coping), effort, a supportive friendship
network, and reduced disengaged and externalising coping. While protective processes
were encouragingly significantly present across genders, boys were more vulnerable to
the deleterious effects of disengaged and externalizing coping than girls. We suggest that
individual close friendships are an important potential protective mechanism accessible to
most adolescents. We discuss implications of the resulting Adolescent Friendship and
Resilience Model for resilience theories and integration into practice.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of self – efficacy perception of mothers’ towards parenting on
the peer relations of children aged between 5 and 6. The sample group of this study comprised of 200, 5 – 6 year old
children (girls= 96, boys= 104), and their mothers. The Ladd and Profilet Child Behaviour Scale, the Peer Victimisation
Scale and the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale – Mother Form were used to collect data of this study. Study
results concluded that there was a negative significant relationship between the level of self-efficacy perceived by
mothers towards parenting and variables of aggression, exclusion, fearful-anxiety, hyperactivity, and peer victimisation
of their children. Another conclusion obtained from this study was that the level of self-efficacy perceived by
mothers towards parenting had a predictor effect on their child’s level of aggression, exclusion, fearful-anxiety, hyperactivity,
and peer victimisation. There was no significant relationship between the level of self-efficacy perceived
by mothers towards parenting and their child’s level of prosocial and asocial behaviour.

ÖZ Bu araştırmanın amacı sosyal beceri puanı en düşük ve en yüksek olan okul öncesi dönem çocuklarının kişilerarası problem çözme becerilerinin ve arkadaşlık ilişkilerinin değerlendirilmesidir. Bu amaç doğrultusunda araştırmada, nitel ve nicel verilerin harmanlandığı karma yöntem kullanılmıştır. Çalışma grubunu okul öncesi eğitim almakta olan 17'si 48-60 ay, 92'si ise 60-72 ay olan 57 kız ve 52 erkek çocuk olmak üzere toplam 109 çocuk oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmanın sonucunda çocukların sosyal becerisi ile sosyal olmayan akran çözümleri arasında negatif yönde anlamlı ilişki bulunmuştur. Sosyal becerisi yüksek olan çocukların akran ilişkileri incelendiğinde birlikte oyun, akranlarını uyararak uygun davranışa yönlendirme, liderlik, akranlarıyla iletişim kurma, akranlarına yardım etme, nezaket sözcüklerini kullanma, sabretme/bekleme, akranlarıyla fiziksel yakınlık kurma, davranışların nedenlerini sorgulama, akranları tarafından reddedilme/tercih edilmeme, akranlarını şikâyet etme, akranlarıyla olumsuz sözel iletişim ve akranlarıyla alay etme temaları ortaya çıkmıştır. Sosyal becerisi düşük olan çocukların akran ilişkileri incelendiğinde yalnız kalma isteği, akranlarını fiziksel olarak zorlama/müdahale, akranları tarafından reddedilme/tercih edilmeme, akranlarını şikâyet etme, otoriteden korkma, arkadaşlığı kaybetme korkusu, akranlarıyla olumsuz sözel iletişim, akranlarıyla sözel iletişim kurmadan oyun oynama ve akranlarıyla iletişim kurma temaları ortaya çıkmıştır. ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to evaluate the interpersonal problem-solving skills and friendship relationships of preschool children with the lowest and highest social skills score. For this purpose, a mixed method was used which combined qualitative and quantitative data. The study group consisted of 109 children, 17 of whom were 48-60 months old and 92 of whom were 60-72 months (57 girls and 52 boys). Based on the findings, there exists a negative and significant relationship between children's social skills and non-social peer solutions. When the peer relations of the children with high social skills are examined, it was found that those children play together, stimulate their peers, show leadership behaviors, communicate with and help their peers, use the words of courtesy, show patience, wait for their turn, show physical closeness with their peers, question the causes of behaviors, rejection by their peers, complain about their peers, communicate negatively with peers and mockery with their peers. When the peer relations of the children with low social skills are examined, the following behaviors have emerged: desire to be alone, show physical coercion/intervention/rejection towards their peers, complain about their peers, show fear towards authority and losing friendship, communicate negatively with their peers, play with their peers without any verbal communication.

The Peer Group Assessment (PGA) is a method that is currently used in higher education to evaluate group work, the PGA is extensively used within engineering modules due to the importance of teamwork in the engineering profession. The accuracy and reliability of PGA’s are important factors in forming a metric to measure the cohesion amongst group members and how each member contributes to the teams’ success. An example of where the PGA is used is in the 3rd year Engineering Design Module. Where teams consisting of three members need to develop a specific solution in accordance with a specification document. The three members are required to give a peer assessment score to one another after completing each assignment. This score had to be agreed upon by all three members as it was submitted with each assignment. The agreed upon marks usually entail all members receiving good marks. Peer assessments are usually premeditated and done while all group members are present. This results in fallacious peer assessments that hold little or no value to the lecture who wishes to assess the group’s dynamics.

Presentation at the Annual Meeting of Society for Cross-Cultural Research, 2015, chaired by Dr. Carrie Brown. Fulltext in January and May issues of International Society for Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection Research (ISIPAR) Newsletter.

The present paper provides an overview of the existing literature pertaining to issues on interpersonal acceptance-rejection (IAR) in Chinese populations. Current IAR-related studies in Chinese populations focus on three main areas: parent-child interactions; intimate partner violence; and children’s and adolescents’ peer relationship. Existing literature renders support for IPARTheory’s personality sub-theory in that rejection in parent-child and intimate partner relationships has been shown to lead to adverse effects on the physical health, mental health, and psychological adjustment of Chinese children, adolescents, and adults. Evidence specific to each domain indicates that: 1) Even though early research in Chinese populations often portrayed Chinese parents as harsher, more controlling, and less expressive in affection than their European American counterparts, recent investigations reveal gradual shifts in parenting ideals and practices toward more overt parental acceptance; 2) Intimate partner violence of varied forms is prevalent among Chinese couples. This violence exerts enormously detrimental influences on victims and their families, as it does in other societies; 3) Peer acceptance, often measured in school contexts, is not only related to Chinese children’s social competence, but is closely associated with children’s academic performance. Methodological issues in these studies and possible future directions are discussed.

Motivating students in creative media courses can be a challenge due to the demand for creativity which is hard to be taught. Hence, motivation needs to be re-identified and re-addressed for the creative disciplines. Conventionally, creative media courses adopt the studio-based learning, and with this unique dynamic teaching approach, students are required to have face-to-face tutorial sessions with their tutors on a regular basis, as well as participate in group projects and produce creative artefacts of industry standard quality. In this paper, we investigate the critical motivators for creative media students and identify those factors throughout the study. The study aims to examine how crucial and influential the autonomy, peer relationship and the future career opportunities for students’ motivation. Research includes a survey with questions based on a conceptual framework adopted from self-determination theory. The results suggest that autonomy, peer relationships and the opportunity for future careers are the primary motivators for students in the programme. The implications of the findings are discussed, and recommendations are provided to faculty members in the creative programmes.

Keywords: Motivation, Autonomy, Peer Relationships, Industry Relations, Creative Media Course

Bu araştırmanın amacı, demografik özelliklere göre çalışanların işyeri ilişkileri kalitesinin farklılık gösterip göstermediğini incelemektir. Araştırmada bir işyerinin temel ilişkilerinden olan mentör-eğitilen ve mevkidaş çalışanlar ilişkileri incelenmiştir. Araştırmanın örneklemini havacılık sektöründe görevli 384 çalışan oluşturmaktadır. Çalışmada veri toplamak amacıyla anket yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Veriler, SPSS 21 paket programında ölçek geçerlilik, güvenilirlik, veri normallik testi, T-Testi ve ANOVA analizlerine tabi tutulmuştur. Araştırma bulgularına göre; cinsiyet, yaş, çalışma süresi ve görev ünvanına göre çalışanların işyeri ilişkileri kalitesi farklılaştığı, ancak medeni ve eğitim durumuna göre farklılaşmadığı görülmüştür. Erkek çalışanların kadın çalışanlara göre işyeri ilişkileri kalitesinden daha memnun olduğu görülmüştür. Bununla beraber, özellikle genç ve çalışma süresi az olan çalışanların yaşlı ve deneyimli çalışanlara göre mentörleriyle olan ilişki kalitesinden daha memnun oldukları görülmüştür. Araştırmanın işyeri ilişkileri ile ilgili literatüre katkı sağlayacağı ve gelecekte yapılacak çalışmalara ışık tutacağı düşünülmektedir.
Anahtar kelimeler: İşyeri İlişkileri Kalitesi, Mentör Eğitilen İlişkisi, Mevkidaş Çalışanlar İlişkileri, Havacılık


The purpose of this research is to examine whether the quality of workplace relations of employees differs according to demographic characteristics. In the research, the relations between mentor-mentee and peer employees, which are the main relations of a workplace, were examined. The sample of the research consists of 384 employees working in the aviation sector. Questionnaire method was used to collect data in the study. The data were subjected to scale validity, reliability, normality test, T-Test and ANOVA analyzes in SPSS 21 package program. According to the research findings; It was observed that the quality of workplace relations of the employees differed according to gender, age, working time and job title, but did not differ according to marital and educational status. It has been observed that male employees are more satisfied with the quality of workplace relations than female employees. On the other hand, it has been observed that especially young employees with short working hours are more satisfied with the quality of relationships with their mentors than older and experienced employees. It is thought that the research will contribute to the literature on workplace relations and will shed light on future studies.
Keywords: Workplace Relations Quality, Mentor Mentee Relation, Peer Employees Relations, Aviation

Objective – This is an empirical study that examined the impact of parenting style, peer relationship on learned helplessness among 120 university students aged 18 to 23 years (M=19.7) from Sunway University, Malaysia.

Methodology/Technique – A survey was conducted to collect the data. Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ) was used to measure parenting style, while the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) was used to measure peer relationship and Helplessness Behaviour Questionnaire (HBQ) was used to measure learned helplessness.

Findings – Findings of the study revealed no significant relationship between parenting style and learned helplessness behaviour. However, there was a negative and significant relationship between peer relationship and learned helplessness behaviour. The study, therefore revealed the significant effect of peer relationship on learned helplessness among the sample of the study irrespective of gender.

Novelty – The paper hence highlighted the importance of peer relationship in the planning of educational curriculum for adolescents. Later studies may examine the effect of other socio-environmental factors on learned helplessness behaviour.

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of self - efficacy perception of mothers' towards parenting on the peer relations of children aged between 5 and 6. The sample group of this study comprised of 200, 5 - 6 year old children (girls= 96, boys= 104), and their mothers. The Ladd and Profilet Child Behaviour Scale, the Peer Victimisation Scale and the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale - Mother Form were used to collect data of this study. Study results concluded that there was a negative significant relationship between the level of self-efficacy perceived by mothers towards parenting and variables of aggression, exclusion, fearful-anxiety, hyperactivity, and peer victimisation of their children. Another conclusion obtained from this study was that the level of self-efficacy perceived by mothers towards parenting had a predictor effect on their child's level of aggression, exclusion, fearful-anxiety, hyperactivity, and peer victimisation. There was ...

In this article, we aimed to contribute to a fuller understanding of the complex social ecologies that shape students’ academic development by focusing on richer and more precise conceptuali- zations of mesosystem effects. First, building on bioecological models, we argued for the importance of collective influences, defined as influences from multiple microsystems that act in concert to shape students’ academic functioning and development. We identified three ways collective effects can operate: (1) coactively, (2) contingently, and (3) sequentially. Second, we demonstrated the utility of this framework by using it to organize a narrative review of 32 studies of the effects of parents, teachers, and peers on students’ academic engagement. The framework was used to classify studies, integrate findings, identify trends, and suggest directions for future study. Third, we explored next steps in the conceptualization and study of complex social ecologies, by incorporating perspectives that are more developmental, cultural, sociohistorical, and inclusive.

This study examined whether students’ bystander behaviours in peer victimisation were associated with individual (IMD) and classroom collective moral disengagement (CMD). Self-report survey data were analysed from 1577 Swedish students in fifth grade. Multilevel analyses revealed that, when witnessing peer victimisation, students more often sided with the victimisers if they belonged to classrooms high in CMD, especially if they simultaneously were high in IMD. Furthermore, staying passive was associated with higher levels of IMD and CMD, whereas defending the victims was associated with lower levels of IMD and CMD. Taken together, our findings suggest that moral disengagement beliefs both at the individual and at the classroom-level contribute to explain variability in students’ bystander behaviours, which has potential implications for prevention and intervention work.

Değirmencioğlu, S. M.  (1998)  Review of "Learning the Rules: The Anatomy of Children’s Relationships" by B.J. Bigelow, G. Tesson & J.H. Lewko (Guilford Series on Personal Relationships, Series editor Steve Duck), New York: Guilford Press, 1996.  International Journal of Behavioural Development, 22, 438-441.

The paper focuses on the verification of correlation between self-esteem and the quality of peer relationships among adolescent girls and boys individually. To determine the degree of self-esteem, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale was used and for the determination of quality of peer relationships, we used the Friendship Qualities Scale. The results showed a significant relationship between the variables of selfesteem and peer relationships in early adolescence. We also identified differences in relationship intensity amongst girls and boys individually.

Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a highly stigmatised condition, and typically developing adolescents' motives and reasons for excluding individuals with TS have not been examined. The aim of the study was to understand how TS is conceptualised by adolescents and explore how individuals with TS are perceived by their typically developing peers. Free text writing and focus groups were used to elicit the views of twenty-two year ten students from a secondary school in South East England. Grounded theory was used to develop an analytical framework. Participants' understanding about the condition was construed from misconceptions, unfamiliarity and unanswered questions. Adolescents who conceived TS as a condition beyond the individual's control perceived their peers as being deprived of agency and strength and as straying from the boundaries of normalcy. People with TS were viewed as individuals deserving pity, and in need of support. Although participants maintained they had feelings of social politeness towards those with TS, they would avoid initiating meaningful social relationships with them due to fear of 'social contamina-tion'. Intergroup anxiety would also inhibit a close degree of social contact. Participants that viewed those with TS as responsible for their condition expressed a plenary desire for social distance. However, these behavioural intentions were not limited to adolescents that elicited inferences of responsibility to people with TS, indicating that attributional models of stigmatisation may be of secondary importance in the case of TS. Implications for interventions to improve school belonging among youth with TS are discussed.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate children's experiences and moral judgements of school bullying. Three first grade classes participated in the study, one from a public and two from private primary schools in Thessaloniki. More specifically, sociometrically neglected children were observed and interviewed about their bullying experiences. Two researchers observed the daily interactions of neglected children for three days in a row and recorded specific interactions and bullying incidents in which the " target-children " were involved and they interviewed them about these particular occasions. Children's responses revealed significant levels of social distress, submission and low self-esteem, but they also suggested the " moral " nature of the motives of bullies, such as sadistic and deliberate aspects of bullying that are not fully included and described in the existing subtypes of aggression. The aforementioned finding may help researchers to broaden current conceptualizations of bullying and victimization.

In this chapter we first describe a model of the structure of the peer group.  We then discuss the major theoretical perspectives regarding the effects of peer experience.  Finally we present findings from the empirical literature that show the effects of peer relations on children’s development.