Role of Peer Crowds in the Development of Adolescent Relationships and Identities
For this reflection, please consider the role of peer crowds in the development of adolescent relationships and identities. Read the Brown et al. (1994/2002) chapter and evaluate the authors’ conclusions with material from your textbook (Steinberg, 2020), class discussions and lectures, and your own experiences. Your final essay should be 750-1000 words.
Questions to address in your reflection:
Describe how crowds form and change over time in adolescence. You might want to consider how groups structure themselves internally and in relation to other groups. Can individuals move from one crowd to another easily?
How do crowds contribute to the development of friendships? Romantic relationships? Brown et al. (1994/2002) report on romantic relationships for specific crowds (Table 8.2.2). Do all crowds contribute to relationship development equally? What factors might contribute to these findings? How might membership in a particular crowd contribute to an individual’s relationship development.
How might crowd membership contribute to an adolescent’s identity?
Brown et al. note some limitations to the current (Circa 1994) research in the field of adolescent peer crowds. What suggestions do you have for the authors? Did your secondary school have crowds like the ones described here? What did they get right? What is missing?
Role of Peer Crowds in the Development of Adolescent Relationships and Identities
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Role of Peer Crowds in the Development of Adolescent Relationships and Identities
Describe how crowds form and change over time in adolescence
Crowds have identifiable memberships, and in today’s American society, the entry into middle school and junior high school marks a major transformation and the formation of peer “crowds,” which Brown et al. (2002) refer to as a collection of adolescents characterized by shared attitudes, interests, personal characteristics, and abilities. Unlike other crowds, adolescent crowds tend to interact with members of the same crowd. They will tend to avoid entering relationships with other peers from different crowds not sharing similar reputations. According to Brown et al. (2002), relational principles reflect the structure and function of adolescent crowds. Gencer (2019) demonstrates how groups structure themselves internally and concerning other groups in studying group dynamics and behaviors. Groups are made of at least two individuals coming together and sharing a common purpose, communicating, dependent, and impacting each other. In group dynamics theory, Kurt Lewin has described groups as complex and open systems that characterize both internal and external forces affecting how groups behave (Gencer, 2019). However, individuals can move from one group to another. For instance, according to Charles Horton Cooley (1884-1929), a sociologist, groups are broadly divided into primary and secondary groups, and neither of the groups has set limits (Brossard, 2016). Moran et al. (2017) have identified some common crowds such as mainstream, elite, Hip-hop, counterculture, and rockers. Similarly, Brown et al. (2002) have identified druggies, jocks, loners, nerds, normals, popular, and brains as common crowd groups that adolescents associate themselves with. Adolescents can move from one group to another, and these crowds can change over time depending on their interests.
How do crowds contribute to the development of friendships? Romantic relationships?
Researchers, particularly ethnographers, have studied the differential development of relationships among different crowds regarding character and quality members display (Brown et al., 2002). There are interesting accounts of different relational patterns among adolescents from different crowds, indicating that crowds play a significant role in developing friendship. Drawing findings from common crowds comprised of a sample of 800 adolescents, including druggies, brains, populars, jocks, and outcasts, Brown et al. (2002) have found a sharp difference in romantic relationships among members in different crowds. For instance, almost two-thirds of the druggies crowd have either a boyfriend or girlfriend compared to about a quarter of those in the brains group. S...