This study evaluated the aspects of complex decisions influenced by peers, and components of peer involvement influential to adolescents’ risky decisions. Participants (N = 140) aged 13–25 completed ...the Columbia Card Task (CCT), a risky choice task, isolating deliberation‐reliant and affect‐reliant decisions while alone, while a friend monitors choices, and while a friend is merely present. There is no condition in which a nonfriend peer is present. Results demonstrated the risk‐increasing peer effect occurred in the youngest participants in the cold CCT and middle‐late adolescents in the hot CCT, whereas other ages and contexts showed a risk‐decreasing peer effect. Mere presence was not sufficient to influence risky behavior. These boundaries in age, decision, and peer involvement constrain prevailing models of adolescent peer influence.
I show dividend policies have peer effects. My estimates indicate that firms speed up the time taken to make a dividend change by about 1.5 quarters and increase payments by 16% in response to peer ...changes. The peer effects matter in increases but not decreases. In contrast to dividends, repurchases show no peer effects. In addition, announcement returns indicate that investors partially anticipate the consequences of peer effects. Overall, peer interdependencies account for 12% of total dividend payments.
There is consensus in the literature that self-esteem stems from relationships with others. In particular, it is assumed that parents play an important role in the development of children’s ...self-esteem, also in adolescence. Despite the importance of parent–child attachment relationships for adolescents’ self-esteem, we know very little about the extent to which fathers and mothers uniquely contribute to adolescents’ self-esteem. The current study aims to contribute to acquiring knowledge in this research area in three ways. First, by separating the potential influences of father–child and mother–child attachment relationships on sons’ and daughters’ self-esteem, the current study is able to investigate the individual contribution of the father–child and mother–child attachment relationship to female and male adolescent’s self-esteem. Second, by controlling for changes in the quality of the parental relationship and peer relationships the current study is able to isolate linkages between changes in adolescents’ perceived quality of the parent–child attachment relationships and changes in adolescents’ self-esteem. Third, by using longitudinal data and solely analyzing within-person variation, the current study is able to rule out stable confounding factors as alternative explanations. Self-reports of 542 adolescents (mean age at T1 = 13.6 years, percentage female = 0.51) from all three waves of the Dutch cohort study Social Development of Adolescents were used. The longitudinal fixed effects models showed that, for both sons and daughters, changes in the perceived quality of the mother–adolescent attachment relationship and changes in the perceived quality of the relationship between adolescents’ parents were positively linked with changes in self-esteem. Changes in the perceived quality of the attachment relationship with father were only significantly linked to changes in daughters’ self-esteem, not in that of sons. Contrary to the expectations, changes in peer relationships were not associated with changes in adolescents’ self-esteem. These findings suggest that even though adolescents may be increasing their time spent with friends and romantic partners, perceived changes in the attachment relationships with fathers and mothers and in the wider family system are highly important for how adolescents think of and judge themselves.
People with serious mental illness are increasingly turning to popular social media, including Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, to share their illness experiences or seek advice from others with similar ...health conditions. This emerging form of unsolicited communication among self-forming online communities of patients and individuals with diverse health concerns is referred to as peer-to-peer support. We offer a perspective on how online peer-to-peer connections among people with serious mental illness could advance efforts to promote mental and physical wellbeing in this group.
In this commentary, we take the perspective that when an individual with serious mental illness decides to connect with similar others online it represents a critical point in their illness experience. We propose a conceptual model to illustrate how online peer-to-peer connections may afford opportunities for individuals with serious mental illness to challenge stigma, increase consumer activation and access online interventions for mental and physical wellbeing.
People with serious mental illness report benefits from interacting with peers online from greater social connectedness, feelings of group belonging and by sharing personal stories and strategies for coping with day-to-day challenges of living with a mental illness. Within online communities, individuals with serious mental illness could challenge stigma through personal empowerment and providing hope. By learning from peers online, these individuals may gain insight about important health care decisions, which could promote mental health care seeking behaviours. These individuals could also access interventions for mental and physical wellbeing delivered through social media that could incorporate mutual support between peers, help promote treatment engagement and reach a wider demographic. Unforeseen risks may include exposure to misleading information, facing hostile or derogatory comments from others, or feeling more uncertain about one's health condition. However, given the evidence to date, the benefits of online peer-to-peer support appear to outweigh the potential risks.
Future research must explore these opportunities to support and empower people with serious mental illness through online peer networks while carefully considering potential risks that may arise from online peer-to-peer interactions. Efforts will also need to address methodological challenges in the form of evaluating interventions delivered through social media and collecting objective mental and physical health outcome measures online. A key challenge will be to determine whether skills learned from peers in online networks translate into tangible and meaningful improvements in recovery, employment, or mental and physical wellbeing in the offline world.
Bullying and cyberbullying are damaging aggressive behaviors in which some children and adolescents intentionally inflict frequent and long term harm on peers who become victimized. The number of ...studies on bullying is high and a lot of knowledge has already been gathered. Nevertheless, there are still many gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed. Research on protective factors and effective interventions is still in its relatively early stages. This systematic review of meta-analyses on protective factors against bullying and cyberbullying was conducted to synthesize knowledge and discover the most important community, school, family, peer and individual protective factors. After systematic searches and the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 18 meta-analyses with 128 effect sizes were included and analyzed. Forest plots were constructed and median effect sizes were calculated for each group of protective factors. Self-oriented personal competencies were the strongest protector against victimization. Low frequency of technology use protected from involvement in cyberbullying. Good academic performance and other-oriented social competencies were the strongest protective factors against perpetration. Positive peer interaction was the strongest protective factor against being a bully/victim. These findings can be useful to improve anti-bullying programs, policy and practice.
•Bullying and cyberbullying are very damaging aggressive behaviors present in schools.•A systematic review of meta-analyses on protective factors against bullying and cyberbullying was conducted.•Forest plots were constructed and median effect sizes were calculated for different protective factors based on 128 overall effect sizes.•Community, school, family, peer and individual protective factors against bullying and cyberbullying were found.•Findings are useful to improve anti-bullying programs, policy, and practice.
Previous studies have shown that there is overlap between victimization and the perpetration of bullying, and social and motivational variables are known to mediate this relationship. However, the ...effects of different moral disengagement strategies have not been studied, despite the fact that they exert a major influence on aggressive behavior. This hypothesis and the moderating role of gender were tested through a longitudinal study (N = 2,066) administered in three waves at 6-month intervals. The results indicated that cognitive restructuring influenced the association between victimization and subsequent bullying. In high victimization scores, boys had higher scores in bullying perpetration compared to girls. The conclusion underlines the importance of the role of morals and ethics in peer relations and in the cycle of violence.
Celem badania było określenie skali zjawiska problemowego grania w gry sieciowe wśród uczniów gimnazjów w zależności od szeregu czynników obejmujących wiek, płeć, typ szkoły, relacje rówieśnicze, ...poczucie przynależności do szkoły i bezsenność. Do badania włączono 291 uczniów szkół na poziomie gimnazjalnym. Grupa badana obejmowała 147 chłopców i 144 dziewczęta. W badaniu zastosowano jedną z celowych metod doboru próby - metodę doboru próby nielosowej. Problemowe granie w gry sieciowe było zmienną zależną, natomiast relacje rówieśnicze, poczucie przynależności do szkoły i bezsenność stanowiły zmienne niezależne. Aby ustalić, czy czynniki niezależne mają wartość predykcyjną względem zmiennej zależnej, przeprowadzono analizę regresji wielokrotnej. Wykazano, że bezsenność, poczucie przynależności do szkoły, relacje rówieśnicze, typ szkoły, wiek i czynniki związane z wiekiem odpowiadają za 30% zmiennej problemowego grania w gry sieciowe.
Background: This study compared two interventions for improving the social skills of high functioning children with autism spectrum disorders in general education classrooms. One intervention ...involved a peer‐mediated approach (PEER) and the other involved a child‐assisted approach (CHILD).
Method: The two interventions were crossed in a 2 × 2 factorial design yielding control, PEER, CHILD, and both PEER and CHILD conditions. Sixty children participated from 56 classrooms in 30 schools. Interventions involved 12 sessions over 6 weeks, with a 3‐month follow‐up. Outcome measures included self, peer and teacher reports of social skills and independent weekly observations of children on their school playground over the course of the intervention.
Results: Significant improvements were found in social network salience, number of friendship nominations, teacher report of social skills in the classroom, and decreased isolation on the playground for children who received PEER interventions. Changes obtained at the end of the treatment persisted to the 3‐month follow‐up.
Conclusions: These data suggest that significant improvements can be made in peer social connections for children with autism spectrum disorders in general education classrooms with a brief intervention, and that these gains persist over time.
The study examined the efficacy of the Polish adaptation of the PEERS® curriculum for adolescents on the autism spectrum. Twenty-nine adolescents (aged 11–16) were randomized into a Treatment and a ...Waitlist Control Group. Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, the Treatment Group received part of the intervention online (in hybrid mode). Results showed large effects of PEERS® increasing the teens’ social skills, knowledge about social skills, and the number of get-togethers with peers. Most of the effects were maintained over a six-month follow-up period. There was no impact of the delivery mode on the treatment effects. The study demonstrates the feasibility and efficacy of the Polish adaptation of PEERS® and encourages future research on the online/hybrid delivery of Social Skills Training.
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