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Author Spotlight: Understanding Adolescent Social Adversity Effects on Neurodevelopment in Mice
Published on: March 15, 2024
Adolescents' perception of peer groups: Psychological, behavioral, and relational determinants
Seungyoon Lee1, Jeremy Foote2, Zachary Wittrock1
1Brian Lamb School of Communication, Purdue University, 100 N. University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Abstract:
Adolescents' social cognitive understanding of their social world is often inaccurate and biased. Focusing on peer groups, this study examines how adolescents' psychological, behavioral, and relational characteristics influence the extent to which they accurately identify their own and others' peer groups. Analyses were conducted with a sample of 1481 seventh- and tenth-grade Chinese students who are embedded with 346 peer groups. Overall, females and older students had more accurate perceptions. In addition, lower self-esteem, higher indegree centrality, and lower betweenness centrality in the friendship network predicted more accurate perception of one's own groups, whereas higher academic performance and lower betweenness centrality in the friendship network predicted more accurate perception of others' groups. Implications for understanding the connection between adolescents' psychological and behavioral traits, social relationships, and social cognition are discussed.
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