ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interface between children, their peers, and parents. It begins with a critique of the literature on the role that peers play in child/adolescent behavior as well as in development. The chapter presents the cultural context of peer groups. It investigates the role of parents as facilitators of their child’s peer interactions, and reviews the results of a study on peer abuse. The chapter explores the impact of peers on the parent-child relationship and the concerns that parents may have about their children’s peers. J. R. Harris’s theory of group socialization is relevant in the sense that peers are potent agents of socialization in late childhood and adolescence. One critique of the perspective that peer contact is a necessary ingredient in child socialization is the well-known fact that peers often influence each other negatively. The quality of children’s peers has become a salient parental preoccupation.
