Peer Influence And Social Grouping

Peer influence is a common occurrence in today 's culture, one might think it is only among older children and adolescents, however, in reality, it occurs in all age groups. The real question is, how does it effect development in children? Many studies show that peer influence and social grouping starts as early as eight years old, which is dramatically younger than was first assumed. Although there are some good things about having groups for children, such as friendship, acceptance, and support, there are several problems at this age also, such as the struggle with moral fairness and bending to the will of their peers. The reason that peer influence is much more problematic at such a young age is that children are just beginning to discover their personal identity. This is when they begin apply social fairness to what they see and experience, and the begin learning the reactions and consequences they receive for doing what they should do, verses what the majority of their social group is doing; Often these consequences include social exclusion from the "in group" of children. If the situation escalates to this, adults should be stepping in to neutralize the problem, however, parents and teachers vary rarely see what is happening, often not even realizing that such conflicts are even …show more content…
If a child feels as if they are not "good" enough or "cool" enough, this can lower their self-esteem and hurt their social skills. If a child continuously feels unwanted, they may quit trying if they feel that it does no good, or is a redundant cycle of being left out. Parents and teachers need to be especially watchful of this, because feelings of low self-worth and esteem are common factors that lead to suicide later on in