We discussed some recent research by Besic et al. (2009) that examined whether certain radical peer groups, like Goths and Aesthetics (music, drama, & art high school track, “startling appearance”) are effective defense mechanisms for dealing with inhibition/shyness. Besic and colleagues concluded that adopting the physical appearance of such a radical crowd was not effective, as these adolescents, even when matched to adolescents from other groups on inhibition, were higher in depression and lower in self-esteem.
Luckily one of my students this semester uses social network analysis so he could answer detailed questions from classmates about it.
We discussed a recent paper by de Castro et al. (2015) that argues for the value of using experimental designs in peer research to disentangle selection and socialization. They present some interesting examples from an online game, Survivor, in which they can manipulate the features of peers and whether the peers are rejecting or not.
“The post This week in Adolescent Development: Peers 2 first appeared on Eva Lefkowitz’s blog on November 8, 2015.”