2-017 - When Interventions Alter Peer Relationship Dynamics: The Positive Impact on Child and Adolescent Adjustment

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Interventions that affect peer relationships in school are important to consider. We know that the characteristics of particular peer relationships can have a lasting impact on both child academic success and delinquency outcomes. Some interventions directly target peer relationships, while others may have a positive indirect affect on the outcomes associated with peer relationship functioning. The purpose of this symposium is to investigate interventions that both directly and indirectly affect peer relationships toward improvements in child outcomes. If interventions can be designed to foster positive peer functioning that, in turn, improves child outcomes, we should consider how best to incorporate the support of positive peer relationship dynamics into future intervention efforts.

Three presentations take up this endeavor. The first presentation describes a short-term longitudinal study examining the influence of the Sanford Harmony Program on social-emotional skills, school connectedness, and academic achievement in 5th grade students. The next presentation uses longitudinal data from 5 secondary schools participating in the My Teaching Partner Secondary (MTPS) program to examine how MTPS may have an unintended positive affect on peer interactions and consequent student engagement. The third presentation uses longitudinal data from 3 middle schools participating in the Adolescent Transition Program (ATP), a subcomponent of the multi-wave Project Alliance study, to examine how ATP may impact middle school friend selection and consequently diminished high school deviance.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Dawn DeLay, Arizona State University

Discussant

• William M Bukowski, Concordia University

Individual Presentations

• Promoting Positive Peer Relationships and School Success in Elementary School: Efficacy of the Sanford Harmony Program - Presenting Author: Cindy Faith Miller, Arizona State University; Karen P. Kochel, University of Richmond; Lorey A Wheeler, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Kimberly Updegraff, Arizona State University; Richard A Fabes, Arizona State Univ; Carol L Martin, Arizona State Univ; Laura D Hanish, Arizona State Univ

• Unintended Impacts of MyTeachingPartner-Secondary: Increasing Positive Peer Interactions in the Classroom - Presenting Author: Christopher A Hafen, University of Virginia; Amori Mikami, University of Virginia; Anne Gregory, Rutgers University; Erik Ruzek, University of Virginia; Joseph P Allen, University of Virginia

• Malleability of Friend Selection and the Effect on Problem Behavior: A Social Network Analysis of a Randomized Intervention Study - Presenting Author: Dawn DeLay, Arizona State University; Thao Ha, Arizona State University; Mark J. Van Ryzin, University of Oregon; Charlotte Winter, University of Oregon; Thomas J Dishion, Arizona State University