ABSTRACT
This chapter is about research on youth’s social development and group processes. First, it describes how and why social network information is valuable for understanding social development, with a focus on students’ social network position (status and affection) and similarity in behavior between students who are connected to each other (because of selection and influence processes and opportunity structures). Second, it describes the method of longitudinal social network analysis and data requirements for analyzing the dynamics in peer relationships. Third, it discusses social network research on a specific type of peer relationships: bullying and its associated group processes. Finally, it discusses the potential of network interventions and the practical applicability for intervening in peer relations. The insights can form the basis for both general interventions and advice for single classrooms. An interesting avenue for future research is the investigation of social network processes that explain the effectiveness of interventions.
