Synopses & Reviews
Peer Relationships In Child Development Friendships that are supportiveFriendships that are notEarly popularity at schoolRejection by peersEach has a profound impact on childrens social, educational, and personality development. The past decade has seen tremendous growth in general research on the characteristics of childhood and adolescent peer relationships. But, what do we know about the contributions of peer relationships, and how can we learn more about the role of peers in childrens development? Peer Relationships in Child Development presents the stimulating answers of todays leading researchers and developmental psychologists in the field. Each chapter is written by professionals involved in an active research program on peer relationships. These experts directly assess the influence that peer relationships exert on personality social behavior, and cognition. In this important work, they focus on:
- Foundations, basic processes and the implications of friendships for psychological development, for example, the consequences of conflict between peers.
- Interplay of family (or parent-child) relationships and peer relationships.
- The significance of peer relationships and peer influence in the school context.
- The use of peer interactions as a therapeutic technique in working with emotionally disturbed or socially maladjusted children.
Throughout the book, there is a balance between examining the positive effects of friendship on such processes as the learning of social skills, and potential negative effects as in peer pressure toward undesirable behavior. Peer Relationships in Child Development will be of great interest to professionals in several fields. For educational and school psychologists, the section oh peer relationships at school will link questions about peer influences on school achievement and academic adjustment to theories and research on psychological development. For those concerned with family clinical, and counsel psychology the variety and the depth of research offered here will be a tremendous help in their own efforts to understand and work with complex child and adolescent peer relationships.
Synopsis
Contemporary Topics in Developmental Psychology Edited by Nancy Eisenberg Prominent developmentalists, biologists, social psychologists, and clinical psychologists discuss a broad range of developmental issues, as well as issues that are interrelated with social and clinical psychology. Separate sections are devoted to motor development and self-regulation, cognitive and perceptual development, social development, development of self worth, the social context, and life cycle development. The clinical implications of developmental research are discussed, and principles from social psychology are applied to an understanding of the effectiveness of various childrearing practices, the formation of social values, and the development of cognition related to self-perceptions and achievement. 1987 (0 471 82913-7) 464 pp. Moral Development Through Social Interaction Edited by William M. Kurtine and Jacob L. Gerwirtz Well-known theorists and researchers in the field present a state-of-the-art overview of current theory and research into the influence of social interaction among young people upon their moral development. The five parts of the book include contributions representative of a developmental process perspective, a developmental-constructivist perspective, a social-constructivist perspective, an interpretive/hermeneutic perspective, and a social process perspective. 1987 (0 471 62567-1) 362 pp. The Psychology of Underachievement Differential Diagnosis and Differential Treatment Harvey R Mandel and Sander I. Marcus This important work provides an overall perspective on the relationship between personality and underachievement, and offers precise descriptions of the different types of underachievers along with clear guidelines on how to diagnose each one. It is the first book to tackle the problem solely from the professionals point of view, using DSM-III-R categories as a point of departure for exploring diagnostic and remedial issues for five very different types of underachievers, 1988 (0 471 84855-7) 397 pp.
About the Author
About the editors Thomas J. Berndt is a Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. Dr. Berndt received his PhD in child psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1975. Dr. Berndt has served as associate editor for the journal Developmental Psychology Gary W. Ladd received his PhD in human development and educational psychology from the University of Rochester in 1979. Dr. Ladd is an Associate Professor of Child Development and Family Studies and of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University He is a member of the editorial board for the journals Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Table of Contents
PROCESSES.
Popularity and Friendship: Issues in Theory, Measurement, and Outcome (W. Bukowski & B. Hoza).
Behavioral Manifestations of Children's Friendships (W. Hartup).
Social Conflict and Development: Peers and Siblings (C. Shantz & C. Hobart).
Social and Emotional Development in a Relational Context: Friendship Interaction from Early Childhood to Adolescence (J. Parker & J. Gottman).
PEER RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SCHOOL CONTEXT.
Strategic Uses of Peer Learning in Children's Education (W. Damon & E. Phelps).
The Selection of Friends: Changes Across the Grades and in Different School Environments (J. Epstein).
The Role of Peer Groups in Adolescents' Adjustment to Secondary School (B. Brown).
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AND PEER RELATIONSHIPS.
Infant-Mother Attachment, Sociability, and Peer Competence (M. Lamb & A. Nash).
Early Predicators of Childhood Friendship (M. Lewis & C. Feiring).
Families and Peers: Another Look at the Nature-Nurture Question (D. Rowe).
INTERVENTION.
Peers' Influence on Adjustment and Development: A View from the Intervention Literature (W. Furman & L. Gavin).
Peers' Contributions to Children's Social Maladjustment: Description and Intervention (J. Price & K. Dodge).
Epilogue.