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Essay / Peer pressure and aggressive behavior - 1538
Friendships are the closest relationships children have with individuals their own age (Berndt) and establishing positive relationships with peers is considered a task of development of vital importance during childhood (Sroufe and Rutter, 1984). Piaget (1932/1965) argued that close relationships with peers were essential for the development of morality and that the influence of peers on children had long been recognized. Bronfenbrenner (1970) argued that peer pressure leads to antisocial behaviors among adolescents, including the expression of aggressive behaviors. Aggression is an important behavior to consider because it is known to have a negative impact on development. Childhood aggression reliably predicts aggressive behavior in adolescence (Cairns et al, 1989) and has emerged as the most important risk factor for delinquency, crime and substance abuse in adolescence and later life. adulthood (Patterson et al, 1991). If research can shed light on the causes and moderators of child aggression, it may be possible to develop effective interventions that reduce the risk of the aggressive child falling into antisocial behavior in the long term. . Although research on the link between peer relationships and aggressive behavior in children has often been inconsistent or even contradictory, it has appeared that when aggressive children form friendships, those friendships are likely to form with children who also display aggressive behavior. However, the precise nature of the relationship between friendship and aggression remains unclear. It is possible that aggressive children actively seek out aggressive peers and that friendship develops due to similar levels of aggression. It is also possible that children learn in the middle of paper......West, L., Stockemer, V., Gibbons, S., & Almquist-Parks, L. (1996). A social learning model of peer choice in the natural environment. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 17,215-237. Snyder, J., Horsch, E., & Childs, J. (1997). Young children's peer relationships: Affiliation choices and the formation of aggressive behavior. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 26, 145-156. Sroufe, L.A. and Rutter, M. (1984). The field of developmental psychopathology. Child Development, 54, 17-29. Werner, NE and Crick, NR (2004). Maladaptive peer relationships and the development of relational and physical aggression during childhood. Social Development, 13(4), 495-514. Wright, J.C., Giammarino, M., & Parad, H.W. (1986). Social status in small groups: Individual-group similarity and social “maladjustment.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50(3), 523.