This study illuminates how medical specialty camps can be an important developmental setting offering opportunities for diverse children and youth to develop traits and qualities perceived as important even later in life. Perhaps most importantly, camp was identified as one of the most influential settings for developing personal and social traits…

This study examined the association of friendships and popularity with adolescents' first-time involvement in a romantic relationship (referred to as romantic relationship debut). The aim of this article was twofold: first, to disentangle the unique effects of friendships and perceived popularity; second, to separate same- and cross-gender peer…

This mixed-methods study examined gender differences in the friendships and conflict experiences of autistic girls and boys relative to their neurotypical peers. In total, 102 adolescents (27 autistic girls, 26 autistic boys, 26 neurotypical girls, and 23 neurotypical boys), aged between 11 and 18 years completed the Friendship Qualities Scale,…

This exploratory, phenomenological qualitative study explored how a single, relational micro-intervention focused on respectful conversation across difference might influence sense of belonging and level of curiosity among participating community college students. The study also explored the implications of this intervention for improving campus…

The objective of this exploratory study was to examine the interpersonal dynamics of an after-school math club for middle schoolers. Using social network analysis, 2 networks were identified and analyzed: (a) a network of friendship relationships and (b) a network of working relationships. The interconnections and correlations between friendship…

This article details a study which investigated the social acceptance and friendships of children with SEND, and their typically developing peers, at a mainstream primary school in the North West of England. Participants were 29 children aged five and six years old, separated into three groups; typically developing children, children who were…

The present longitudinal study examined how and why classroom-level victimization moderates the prospective association between peer victimization and depressive symptoms with 2,643 third- and fourth-graders (M[subscript age] = 10.01 years) in China. Multilevel modeling revealed that peer victimization was more strongly associated with increasing…

We explored how gender and gender similarity affects friendship dissolution following the transition to middle school. We predicted that both gender and gender similarity (measured by perceived similarity to own-gender and other-gender peers) explain dissolution trends and that less own-gender similarity or more other-gender similarity predicts…

This small-scale study, conducted in Cyprus, considers issues of friendship by exploring the views of children (aged 6-8 years) without disabilities towards peers with physical disabilities. Participants were interviewed with the use of images depicting children with physical disabilities and were asked to justify their friendship, express their…

The friendship experiences of adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were explored in this qualitative study. Nine 16- to 18-year old adolescents with ADHD participated in semi-structured interviews that were analyzed using a modified grounded theory framework. They reported chronic peer rejection, loneliness, and…

Peer relationships form a key developmental context. The current study investigated differences in peer acceptance between high-ability and average-ability youth, from the perspectives of teachers, peers, and students. Relying on the person-group similarity model, we also tested whether high-ability students' acceptance would depend on the peer…

Social norms are vital for the functioning of adolescent peer groups; they can protect the well-being of groups and individual members, often by deterring harmful behaviors, such as aggression, through enforcement mechanisms like peer victimization; in adolescent peer groups, those who violate aggression norms are often subject to victimization.…

Autistic girls' heightened social motivation and associated social coping strategies, such as camouflaging, mean they may be less likely to receive appropriate support in mainstream schools. In this research, a multi-informant approach was used to examine the camouflaging strategies used by autistic girls within specialist resource classes…

Background: Very-low-income students are a population at a high risk of perpetrating and suffering bullying at school, and at the same time the peer group at school is often one of the few sources of support for these minors. Objective: This two-wave study is aimed to disambiguate the two different roles of peer acceptance and friendship on…

This mixed-method study examines students' expectations and concerns before transitioning from primary to lower secondary school and the role of students' school-related wellbeing and self-esteem in their concerns. Students reported their beliefs about the forthcoming school transition and filled in a questionnaire assessing school burnout and…