Scope and overview

A developmental perspective

Friends have been recognized as a potent source of influence on children's social, cognitive and emotional development (Hartup & Sancilio, 1986). Friendship is already important as a context of development during the preschool years, although it is second to the family context (Howes, 1988; Ladd et al., 1996). By pre- and early adolescence, friends (mostly same-gender) become a strong source of influence (Berndt, 1979; Steinberg, 1986; Sullivan, 1953). Together with the influence of the larger peer group the influence of friendships remains operative throughout adolescence. The increasing influence of peers and friends from childhood to adolescence corresponds with a decrease in parental influence (Furman & Robins, 1985). During this time, the conception, determinants and function of friendship also evolve (Aboud & Mendelson, 1996). Throughout this chapter, we adopt a developmental perspective concordant with the previous description to understand whether and how friends or peers might influence children's/adolescents' conduct disorder.

Many studies have considered peer influence in group contexts such as gangs (ex: Elliott et al., 1985; Thornberry et al., 1993). Others have focused on dyadic contexts such as friendship (Dishion et al., 1995a; Tremblay et al., 1995; Vitaro et al., 1997). Within the latter, some have considered all possible friendship dyads, others have included only very best friends, and yet others have used only mutual friends.