IX: Peer characteristics

In this chapter, we summarize our findings for both positive aspects of peer relationships (peer communication, peer support, and positive friends) and negative aspects of peer relationships (negative friends and peer drug norms). These different measures were chosen, in part, to parallel our parent measures. For example, we have parent and peer measures of support and communication as well as assessments of positive and negative aspects of both types of relationships. This allowed us to assess the nature of changes in our adolescents’ relationships with their parents versus their peers. Although there is great deal of interest in the changes in these two social contexts, very few studies have looked at changes over time in both contexts. This is quite odd given the amount of rhetoric linking these two systems and suggesting that adolescence is largely about the conjoint declines in connections with one's parents and increases in one's connections with one's peers. One of our main goals was to help to fill this void. Our results are shown in Tables 17 and 18 and Figure 6.