19.5: Peer Relationships
- Page ID
- 225563
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Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). Friendships become increasingly more important in middle childhood, with positive peer relationships supporting healthy social and emotional development in this life stage. Image by Rendan Catipay licensed by Pexels.
Peer relationships become increasingly important during middle childhood. As children spend more time in school and extracurricular activities, interactions with peers become a central part of their social and emotional development. Friendships, group belonging, and peer approval begin to shape children’s self-concept and influence their behaviors (Rubin et al., 2006).
During this stage, children develop more advanced social-cognitive abilities that aid in navigating social groups (Bukowski et al., 2010), such as perspective-taking and emotional regulation. These skills help children form and maintain reciprocal friendships, as well as resolve conflicts more independently.
Positive peer relationships can support healthy development by providing emotional security and reinforcing prosocial behavior. At the same time, middle childhood can bring challenges related to peer rejection and exclusion. Children who are socially marginalized or bullied may experience declines in academic performance, increased internalizing symptoms, and reduced self-esteem (Prinstein & Giletta, 2016).
The following sections will explore the development and function of friendships in middle childhood, the dynamics of social status and peer acceptance, and the effects of bullying and peer aggression on child well-being.
References, Contributors and Attributions
Bukowski, W. M., Laursen, B., & Rubin, K. H. (2010). Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups. Guilford Press.
Prinstein, M. J., & Giletta, M. (2016). Peer relations and developmental psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti (Ed.), Developmental psychopathology (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 527–579). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119125556.devpsy115
Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Parker, J. G. (2006). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 571–645). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0310