Friend Influence During Primary School: The Role of Peer Social Status in Positive Adjustment

• In Event: 1-095 - Peer Influence: New Methods for Unpacking Longitudinal Effects

Integrative Statement

Close friends exert considerable influence over children’s behaviors, attitudes and beliefs. However, influence is not evenly distributed within a friendship dyad (Laursen, 2018). Typically, only one friend changes to resemble the other. Research on friend influence over problem behaviors suggests that peer status plays an important role in determining who influences whom (Ellis & Zarbatany, 2007). More popular and better-liked peers tend to wield influence over their counterparts. It remains unclear, however, whether popularity or likeability plays a more important role in the process. Both have been implicated when examined separately, but no studies have considered both.

This study considers both indices of peer status to determine which is more important in determining influence over positive adjustment, an understudied area of peer influence. We conducted two sets of Actor-Partner Interdependence Model analyses (Kenny, 2006), modified for longitudinal data (Popp et al., 2008). The analyses were adapted to incorporate latent-change scores so as to overcome limitations of conventional cross-lagged analyses (Berry & Willoughby, 2017). The strategy disentangles within-subject growth from between-subject change, thereby permitting a better understanding of friend influence.

We examine two types of peer status as potential sources of influence: Likeability, which the extent to which a child is liked by their peers and popularity, which describe a child’s social standing (McDonald & Asher, 2018).

Participants included 454 children in grades 4-6 (ages 8 to 12) who were assessed twice during the school year, over the course of 14 weeks. Children attended a primary school whose demographics were required to resemble that of public school students in the state of Florida in terms of ethnic background and SES.

Unlimited same-sex friend nominations were obtained, from which 158 (88 female dyads, 70 male dyads) reciprocated friendships were identified that were stable across the two time points. Each child was limited to membership in a single friendship dyad. Popularity, likeability, prosocial behavior and academic achievement were assessed with unlimited peer nominations. To identify the unique role of popularity in influence, a residual score was obtained by regressing popularity onto likeability. A similar process was used to residualize likeability.

Figure 1 describes the results. After removing the contribution of popularity, relative likeability remained a source of influence over positive adjustment. The more-liked friend influenced the prosocial behavior and academic achievement of the less-liked friend. Initial levels of the more-liked friend’s positive adjustment predicted changes in the positive adjustment of the less-liked friend, but not the reverse. In contrast, after removing the contribution of likeability, relative popularity was not a source of influence over positive adjustment; the more-popular friend did not influence the less-popular friend.

The findings suggest that in the domain of positive adjustment, friends draw influence from likeability and not popularity. Better-liked children may have a unique set of qualities that make them persuasive, such as empathy or enthusiasm (Laursen et al., 2012). Lesser-liked friends may also be vulnerable to influence because they have fewer friend options and are thereby eager to retain those they do have (Delay et al., 2016).

Authors

• Olivia Maria Valdes, Florida Atlantic University
  Presenting Author

• Brett Laursen, Florida Atlantic University
  Non-Presenting Author