Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T06:32:34.769Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Culture and Peer Relationships

from Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2009

By
Xinyin Chen ,
Doran C. French  and
Barry H. Schneider
Edited by
Xinyin Chen ,
Doran C. French  and
Barry H. Schneider
Xinyin Chen
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
Doran C. French
Affiliation:
Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois, USA
Barry H. Schneider
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Xinyin Chen
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
Doran C. French
Affiliation:
Illinois Wesleyan University
Barry H. Schneider
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Get access

Summary

Cultural context plays an important role in the development of individual social and behavioral characteristics and peer relationships (e.g., Hinde, 1987). As a result, children in different cultures may engage in different types of social interactions and develop different types of relationships. Moreover, cultural values and beliefs, particularly those pertaining to developmental goals and socialization practices, may affect the function and organization of peer relationships. Specifically, cultural norms and values may serve as a basis for the interpretation of particular behaviors (e.g., aggression, sociability, shyness–inhibition) and for the judgment about the appropriateness of these behaviors. The interpretation and evaluation of social behaviors in turn may have pervasive implications for the processes of peer interactions and the formation of dyadic and group relationships. Finally, the cultural aspects of children's peer experiences are reflected in how they affect developmental pathways and outcomes. For example, the extent to which children's interactions with each other do or do not include responsibility for younger children in a culture (see Gaskins, this volume) may be associated with the later display of nurturance and prosocial behavior.

Despite the importance of cultural context for individual social functioning and peer interactions, the research on peer relationships has traditionally focused on Western, particularly North American, cultures. In the past decade, researchers have expanded their work considerably in non-Western regions of the world (e.g., Brown, Larson, & Saraswathi, 2002).

Type
Chapter
Information
Peer Relationships in Cultural Context , pp. 3 - 20
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Asendorpf, J. (1990). Beyond social withdrawal: Shyness, unsociability and peer avoidance. Human Development, 33, 250–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Azmitia, M., & Cooper, C. R. (2004). Good or bad? Peer influences on Latino and European American adolescents' pathways through school. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 6, 45–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berndt, T. J. (1996). Friendship quality affects adolescents' self esteem and social behavior. In Bukowski, W. M., Newcomb, A. F., & Hartup, W. W. (Eds.), The company they keep: Friendship during childhood and adolescence. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Borja-Alvarez, T., Zarbatany, L., Pepper, S. (1991). Contributions of male and female guests and hosts to peer group entry. Child Development, 62, 1079–1090.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bornstein, M. H. (1995). Form and function: Implications for studies of culture and human development. Culture and Psychology, 1(1), 123–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, B. B., Larson, R. W., & Saraswathi, T. S. (2002). The worlds' youth: Adolescence in eight regions of the globe. New York:Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, B. B., Mounts, N., Lamborn, S., & Steinberg, L. (1993). Parenting practices and peer group affiliation in adolescence. Child Development, 64, 467–482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Casiglia, A. C., Lo Coco, A., & Zappulla, C. (1998). Aspects of social reputation and peer relationships in Italian children: A cross-cultural perspective. Developmental Psychology, 34, 723–730.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, X. (2000). Social and emotional development in Chinese children and adolescents: A contextual cross-cultural perspective. In Columbus, F. (Ed.), Advances in psychology research (Vol. I, pp. 229–251). Huntington, NY: Nova Science Publishers.Google Scholar
Chen, X., Chang, L., & He, Y. (2003). The peer group as a context: Mediating and moderating effects on the relations between academic achievement and social functioning in Chinese children. Child Development, 74, 710–727.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, X., Chang, L., He, Y., & Liu, H. (2005). The peer group as a context: Moderating effects on relations between maternal parenting and social and school adjustment in Chinese children. Child Development, 76, 417–434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, X., Kaspar, V., Zhang, Y., Wang. L., & Zheng, S. (2004). Peer relationships among Chinese and North American boys: A cross-cultural perspective. In Way, N. & Chu, J. (Eds.), Adolescent boys in context (pp. 197–218). New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Chen, X., Li, D., Li, Z., Li, B., & Liu, M. (2000). Sociable and prosocial dimensions of social competence in Chinese children: Common and unique contributions to social, academic and psychological adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 36, 302–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, X., Rubin, K. H., & Li, Z. (1995). Social functioning and adjustment in Chinese children: A longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 31, 531–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, X., Rubin, K. H., & Sun, Y. (1992). Social reputation and peer relationships in Chinese and Canadian children: A cross-cultural study. Child Development, 63, 1336–1343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cole, M. (2005). Cultural-historical activity theory in the family of socio-cultural approaches. International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development Newsletter, 47, 1–4.Google Scholar
Collins, W. A., Maccoby, E. E., Steinberg, L., Hetherington, E. M., & Bornstein, M. H. (2000). Contemporary research on parenting. American Psychologist, 55, 218–232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conzen, K. N., Gerber, D. A., Morawska, E., Pozzetta, G. E., & Vecoli, R. J. (1992). The invention of ethnicity: A perspective from the U.S.A. Journal of American Ethnic History, 11, 3–41.Google Scholar
Cooley, C. H. (1902). Human nature and the social order. New York: Scribner.Google Scholar
Corsaro, W. A., & Nelson, E. (2003). Children's collective activities and peer culture in early literacy in American and Italian preschools. Sociology of Education, 76, 209–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). The General Causality Orientations Scale: Self-determination in personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 19, 109–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeSouza, A., & Chen, X. (2005). Behavioral inhibition and peer experiences in Chinese and Canadian children. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Domino, G. (1992). Cooperation and competition in Chinese and American children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 23, 456–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, C. P., de Guzman, M. R. T., Brown, J., & Kumru, A. (this volume). Children's social behaviors and peer interactions in diverse cultures. In Chen, X., French, D., & Schneider, B. (Eds.), Peer relationships in cultural context. New York:Cambridge University Press.CrossRef
Eisenberg, N., Zhou, Q., Liew, J., Champion, C., & Pidada, S. (this volume). Emotion, emotion-related regulation, and social functioning. In Chen, X., French, D., & Schneider, B. (Eds.), Peer relationships in cultural context. New York:Cambridge University Press.CrossRef
French, D. C., Bae, A., Pidada, S., & Lee, O. (in press). Friendships of Indonesian, S. Korean and U.S. College Students. Personal Relationships.Google Scholar
French, D. C., Jansen, E. A., Riansari, M., & Setiono, K. (2003). Friendships of Indonesian children: Adjustment of children who differ in friendship presence and similarity between mutual friends. Social Development, 12, 605–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
French, D. C., Pidada, S., Denoma, J., McDonald, K., & Lawton, A. (in press). Reported Peer Conflicts of Children in the United States and Indonesia. Social Development.Google Scholar
French, D. C., Pidada, S., Victor, A., & Lee, (in press). Friendships of Indonesian and United States youth. International Journal for Behavioral Development.Google Scholar
French, D. C., Setiono, K., & Eddy, J. M. (1999). Bootstrapping through the cultural comparison minefield: Childhood social status and friendships in the United States and Indonesia. In Collins, W. A. & Laursen, B. (Eds.), Relationships as developmental contexts: Minnesota Symposium of Child Psychology (Vol. 30, pp. 109–131). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Fuligni, A. J. (2001). A comparative longitudinal approach to acculturation among children from immigrant families. Harvard Educational Review, 71, 566–578.Google Scholar
Gaskins, S. (this volume). The cultural organization of Yucatec Mayan children's social interactions. In Chen, X., French, D., & Schneider, B. (Eds.), Peer relationships in cultural context. New York:Cambridge University Press.CrossRef
Greenfield, P. M., & Suzuki, L. K. (1998). Culture and human development: Implications for parenting, education, pediatrics, and mental health. In Damon, W. (Ed.), & Eigel, I. E. & Renninger, K. A. (Vol. Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology (Vol. 4, Child Psychology in practice, 5th ed., pp. 1059–1109).Google Scholar
Harris, J. R. (1995). Where is the child's environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartup, W. W. (1992). Social relationships and their developmental significance. American Psychologist, 44, 120–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinde, R. A. (1987). Individuals, relationships and culture. Cambridge, England:Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hodgins, H. S., Koestner, R., & Duncan, N. (1996). On the compatibility of autonomy and relatedness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 227–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. (1994). Foreward. In Kim, U., Triandis, H. C., Kagitcibasi, C., Choi, S. C., & Yoon, G., Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method, and applications. (pp. ⅸ–ⅻⅰ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hymel, S., & Rubin, K. H. (1985). Children with peer relationship and social skills problems: Conceptual, methodological, and developmental issues. In Whitehurst, G. J. (Ed.), Annals of child development (Vol. 2, pp. 254–297). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Karpov, Y. V. (2005). Psychological tools, internalization, and mediation: The Neo-Vygotskian elaboration of Vygotsky's notions. The International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) Newsletter, 47, 4–7.Google Scholar
Kleinman, A. (1988). Rethinking psychiatry: From cultural category to personal experience. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Krispin, O., Sternberg, K. J., & Lamb, M. E. (1992). The dimensions of peer evaluation in Israel: A cross-cultural perspective. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 15, 299–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladd, G. W., Kochenderfer, B. J., & Coleman, C. C. (1996). Friendship quality as a predictor of young children's early school adjustment. Child Development, 67, 1103–1118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lansford, J. E., Criss, M. M., Pettit, G. S., Dodge, K. A., & Bates, J. E. (2003). Friendship quality, peer group affiliation, and peer antisocial behavior as moderators of the link between negative parenting and adolescent externalizing behavior. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13, 161–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larson, R. W. (1999). The uses of loneliness in adolescence. In Rotenberg, K. J. & Hymel, S. (Eds.), Loneliness in childhood and adolescence (pp. 244–262). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leontiev, A. N. (1981). The problem of activity in psychology. In Wertsch, J. V. (Ed.), The concept of activity in Soviet psychology. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Liang, S. (1987). The outline of Chinese culture. Shanghai Teachers' University Press, Shanghai, China: Xue Lin.Google Scholar
Liu, M., Chen, X., Rubin, K. H., Zheng, S., Cui, L., Li, D., Chen, H.. (in press). Autonomy- vs. connectedness-oriented parenting behaviors in Chinese and Canadian mothers. International Journal of Behavioral Development.Google Scholar
Luo, G. (1996). Chinese traditional social and moral ideas and rules. Beijing, China: University of Chinese People Press.Google Scholar
Luria, A. R. (1928). The problem of the cultural development of the child. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 35, 493–506.Google Scholar
Luria, A. R. (1976). Cognitive development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markus, H. R., & Lin, L. R.(1999). Conflictways: Cultural diversity in the meanings and practices of conflict. In Prentice, D. A. & Miller, D. T. (Eds.), Cultural divides: Understanding and overcoming group conflict (pp. 302–333). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Miller, J. G. (2002). Bring culture to basic psychological theory – Beyond individualism and collectivism: Comment on Oyserman et al. (2002). Psychological Bulletin, 128, 97–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogbu, J. U. (1995). Origins of human competence: A cultural-ecological perspective. In Goldberger, N. R. & Veroff, J. B. (Eds.), The culture and psychology reader (pp. 245–275). New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Orlick, T., Zhou, Q. Y., & Partington, J. (1990). Co-operation and conflict within Chinese and Canadian kindergarten settings. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 22, 20–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oyserman, D., Coon, H. M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128(1), 3–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1993). Friendship and friendship quality in middle childhood: Links with peer group acceptance and feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction. Developmental Psychology, 29, 611–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rothbaum, F., Pott, M., Azuma, H.Miyake, K., & Weisz, J. (2000). The development of close relationships in Japan and the United States. Paths of symbiotic harmony and generative tension. Child Development, 71, 1121–1142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W., & Parker, J. (1998). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In Damon, W. (Ed.) Eisenberg, N. (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, Emotional, and Personality Development (5th ed., pp. 619–700). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rubin, K. H., Burgess, K. B., & Coplan, R. J. (2002). Social withdrawal and shyness. In Smith, P. K. & Hart, C. H., (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of childhood social development (pp. 330–352), Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Schaffer, H. R. (2000). The early experience assumption: Past, present and future. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 5–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, B. H., Woodburn, S., Soteras-de Toro, M., & Udvari, S. (2005). Cultural and gender differences in the implications of competition for early adolescent friendship, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 51, 163–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, D., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (2000). Friendship as a moderating factor in the pathway between early harsh home environment and later victimization in the peer group. Developmental Psychology, 36, 646–662.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smart, A. (1999). Expressions of interest: Friendship and guanxi in Chinese societies. In Bell, S. & Coleman, S. (Eds.), The anthropology of friendship (pp. 119–136). Oxford, England:Berg.Google Scholar
Sullivan, H. S. (1953). The interpersonal theory of psychiatry. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Super, C. M., & Harkness, S. (1986). The development niche: A conceptualization at the interface of child and culture. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 9, 545–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tietjen, A. M. (1989). The ecology of children's social support networks. In Belle, D. (Ed.), Children's social support networks and social supports (pp. 37–69). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Tietjen, A. M. (this volume). Cultural influences on peer relations: An ecological perspective. In Chen, X., French, D., & Schneider, B. (Eds.), Peer relationships in cultural context. New York:Cambridge University Press.CrossRef
Tomada, G., & Schneider, B. H. (1997). Relational aggression, gender, and peer acceptance: Invariance across culture, stability over time, and concordance among informants. Developmental Psychology, 33, 601–609.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tremblay, R., Masse, L. C., Vitaro, F., & Dobkin, P. L. (1995). The impact of friends' deviant behavior on early onset of delinquency: Longitudinal data from 6 to 13 years of age. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 649–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Triandis, H. C. (1990). Cross-cultural studies of individualism and collectivism. In Berman, J. J., (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1989: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 41–133). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Valdivia, I. A., Schneider, B. H., Chavez, K. L., & Chen, X. (in press). Social withdrawal and maladjustment in a very group-oriented society. International Journal of Behavioral Development.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Cole, M., John-Steiner, V., Scribner, S., & Souberman, E. (Eds.), Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Way, N., & Pahl, K. (2001). The predictors of friendship quality among ethnic minority, low-income adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 325–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, K. S. (1986). Chinese personality and its change. In Bond, M. H. (Ed.), The psychology of the Chinese people (pp. 106–170). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zhou, M. (1997). Growing up American: The challenge confronting immigrant children and children of immigrants. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 63–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×