Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents

Scientists, educators, and parents of teens have long recognized the potency of peer influences on children and youth, but until recently, questions of how and why adolescents emulate their peers were largely overlooked. This book presents a comprehensive framework for understanding the processes by which peers shape each other's attitudes and behavior, and explores implications for intervention and prevention. Leading authorities share compelling findings on such topics as how drug use, risky sexual behavior, and other deviant behaviors "catch on" among certain peer groups or cliques; the social, cognitive, developmental, and contextual factors that strengthen or weaken the power of peer influence; and the nature of positive peer influences and how to support them.

Mitchell J. Prinstein, PhD, ABPP, is the John Van Seters Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Director of Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research examines interpersonal models of internalizing symptoms and health-risk behaviors among adolescents, with a focus on the unique role of peer relationships in the developmental psychopathology of depression, self-injury, and suicidality. Dr. Prinstein is a past editor of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and a past president of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology and the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. He is a recipient of awards including the Theodore Blau Early Career Award from the Society of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Brickell Memorial Award for research on suicidality from Columbia University, the Mentor Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the Beverly Thorn Award for Outstanding Service from the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology, and the Raymond D. Fowler Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Professional Development of Graduate Students from the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students.

Kenneth A. Dodge, PhD, is the Pritzker Professor of Public Policy and Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. He is Founding and Emeritus Director of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy. A clinical and developmental psychologist, Dr. Dodge studies early childhood development, prevention of violent behavior in the family, and public policy to improve population outcomes for communities. He is the developer of Family Connects, a population approach to improve children’s outcomes in the first year of life. The author of more than 500 highly cited scientific articles, which have been cited more than 100,000 times, Dr. Dodge has been elected into the National Academy of Medicine and is the 2019–2021 President of the Society for Research in Child Development.