Brown B B, Eicher S A, Petrie S
J Adolesc. 1986 Mar;9(1):73-96. doi: 10.1016/s0140-1971(86)80029-x.
Many researchers have speculated about the role peer groups play in adolescent development, but few have examined teenagers' own perspective on the importance of group affiliations. The two studies reported here, involving 1,300 7th to 12th graders in three Midwestern U.S. communities, assessed teenagers' valuation of belonging to a "crowd" as well as the reasons they cited to support or oppose crowd affiliation. The importance of crowd affiliation declined across age. Younger adolescents generally favored membership, emphasizing the crowd's ability to provide emotional or instrumental support, foster friendships and facilitate social interaction. Older respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the conformity demands of crowds and felt their established friendship networks obviated the need for peer group ties. The importance of crowd affiliation was not related to the strength of respondents' sense of identity but did vary significantly with their willingness to conform to peers and the centrality of their position in peer groups or the type of crowd to which they belonged. Findings emphasized that adolescent peer groups can serve multiple functions, whose salience shifts with age.
许多研究人员都推测了同龄群体在青少年发展中所起的作用，但很少有人研究青少年自身对于群体归属重要性的看法。这里报告的两项研究涉及美国中西部三个社区的1300名7至12年级学生，评估了青少年对属于某个“群体”的重视程度以及他们支持或反对群体归属所列举的理由。群体归属的重要性随年龄增长而下降。年龄较小的青少年通常赞成加入群体，强调群体能够提供情感或实际支持、培养友谊并促进社交互动。年龄较大的受访者对群体的从众要求表示不满，并认为他们已有的友谊网络使他们无需建立同龄群体关系。群体归属的重要性与受访者的身份认同感强度无关，但确实会因他们对同伴的从众意愿以及他们在同龄群体中的地位中心性或所属群体类型而有显著差异。研究结果强调，青少年同龄群体可以发挥多种功能，其显著性会随着年龄而变化。
