Peers influence the tobacco and alcohol use of Chinese adolescents.

This two-wave longitudinal study examined peer selection and influence pertaining to tobacco and alcohol use by adolescents and their friends in a sample of 854 Chinese adolescents (384 girls: mean age = 13.33 years). Participants nominated friends and self-reported their tobacco and alcohol use at seventh and again at eighth grade.

Characteristics of likability, perceived popularity, and admiration in the early adolescent peer system in the United States and China.

High social status youth are often influential in the peer system. Thus, they may serve as agents of cultural socialization if they exhibit characteristics that reflect cultural values (e.g.

Why the bully/victim relationship is so pernicious: a gendered perspective on power and animosity among bullies and their victims.

The bully/victim relationship was studied in a sample of elementary school children (N = 1,289 in first, third, and fifth grades). Three questions were tested. Does bullying involve a power differential between bully and victim? Are bully/victim dyads participants in a relationship, whether mutual liking or disliking? Does the gender composition of the bully/victim dyad moderate power differential and relational context patterns? Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze predictors of the reputational strength of bully/victim ties.

Rejection and victimization among elementary school children: the buffering role of classroom-level predictors.

This study examined features of classroom peer ecologies and teaching practices that may attenuate the prevalence of victimization and its connection to peer rejection. Participants were 1020 elementary school students from 54 classrooms and their teachers followed for one academic year. In the majority of classrooms students who were rejected in fall tended to be victimized in spring, but the strength of this association varied across classrooms.