Childhood friends and conversations may be shaping who students are today – even if that’s for the worse.
Friendships and conversation topics could affect the development of children, researchers say. A recent University study found friendships in adolescence can be beneficial and harmful. Close friendships are generally associated with positive outcomes, but close friendships that are centered around anti-social values appear to be harmful, researchers found.
“Most people look at what kinds of good things come from friendships, but what we were interested in is finding the dark side of friendships,” said study co-author Tom Dishion, a professor of psychology and school psychology.
Conversations about violating rules and talking negatively about others can influence behavior – even if children don’t realize it, Dishion said.
“It turns out that when we connect with people with those kind of topics – known as deviant talk – the fact that we’re even connecting with someone on those topics doesn’t bode well for long-term adjustment,” Dishion said.
The research is revealing for centers that group children together for treatment or rehabilitation such as therapy centers for substance abuse, said lead author Tim Piehler, a doctoral student in psychology, in an e-mail.
“Kids could actually get worse as a function of being brought together,” Dishion said.
Piehler said treating children in those group settings could be harmful.
“Properly structuring these settings is very important to minimize the creation of close friendships between anti-social youth,” Piehler said.
Researchers tracked nearly 1,000 adolescents in Portland at the Child and Family Center starting in sixth grade, and tracked them through their early 20s, Piehler said. The participants are ethnically diverse and primarily come from high-risk neighborhoods.
The research started in 1995, and the oldest participants are now 24, Dishion said.
Researchers asked the participants in the study, along with their families and teachers, to fill out questionnaires every year, Piehler said. The questions asked for typical behavior, peer group and parenting behaviors.
When the participants in the study were in 11th grade, researchers asked them to bring a friend into a Portland lab to participate in a videotaped conversation, Piehler said. The participants could talk about topics including friends, drugs and alcohol and dating.
During the study, researchers looked at the quality of friendships – measured by the questions: Did they listen carefully to each other? Did they seem interested and engaged in their conversation? – and the content of the conversation.
Those adolescents who talked about anti-social behaviors, such as breaking the law or drug use, tended to be the ones doing those behaviors, Piehler said. Those adolescents who seemed close to their friend and spent a lot of time talking about these anti-social behaviors showed the worst outcomes and the highest levels of anti-social behavior.
Parents should closely observe their children’s interactions with others, Dishion said.
The journal Child Development published the study in its September/October edition.
[email protected]
The dark side of friendship
Daily Emerald
October 15, 2007
0
More to Discover