Children's interactions with peers and friends are more egalitarian than their interactions with their parents. They allow for more interpersonal experimentation, and children take on a new kind of interpersonal sensitivity to the feelings of others. EARLY PEER INTERACTIONS Infancy and Toddlerhood During the second half of the first year infants begin to recognize peers as social partners and attempt to influence each other by vocalizing, looking, touching, and waving. In the early toddler period, peers begin to exchange both turns and roles during social interactions; in the late toddler period, a major achievement is the ability to share meaning with a social partner. As children's competence with peers develops, they begin to form true relationships. They shift toward increased social play and a greater preference for playing with peers rather than adults, a trend that continues throughout the preschool and elementary years. The Early School Years After age seven children are more likely to choose same-gender rather than opposite-gender play partners, until adolescence when interest in the opposite gender begins. THE ROLE OF PEERS IN CHILDREN'S SOCIALIZATION Peers as Reinforcers of Desired Behaviors The peer group influences the development of the child in many of the same ways that parents do, including through reinforcement and modeling. Peers reinforce each other with increasing frequency throughout the preschool years, with reinforcement commonly reciprocated. Peers as Models In addition to the effects of reinforcement, children acquire a wide range of knowledge and a variety of responses by observing and imitating the behaviors of their peers. Imitation may serve as a way to learn social rules and as a way to maintain social interaction. Peers and the Development of the Self and Peers as Guides and Instructors Peers also serve as standards against which children evaluate themselves. Research indicates that the use of social comparison with the peer group as a means of self-evaluation increases dramatically in the early elementary school years. The process of self-comparison is one basis of the child's self-image and self-esteem. In addition, peers provide opportunities for socializing and forming relationships as well as the development of a sense of belonging. PLAY AND ITS FUNCTIONS The functions of play are to facilitate cognitive development, advance social development, and provide a nonthreatening situation for coping with emotional problems.Play, Fantasy, and Social Competence Make-believe or pretend play appears as early as 12 months, usually involving symbolic activities about routine events (e.g., cooking, shopping). By age 3 pretend play has become complex, cooperative dramatic play with partners, peaking around age 6, pretend play involves highly-coordinated fantasies, multiple roles, and transformations of objects and situations. There are cultural differences in the themes children choose for their pretend play and in their communicative styles. In some cultures children emphasize familiar, everyday activities whereas others choose fantastic and danger-laden themes. Domestic fantasy play declines in the school years and is replaced by more structured games, but adventure fantasies continue into preadolescence. Imaginative play allows the child to experiment with multiple roles and learn to coordinate activities with other children in relatively risk-free situations. Fantasy play also may be used to master fears when children practice conquering the fear, comforting someone who is fearful, or even becoming the feared object.Play, Peers, and Pathology Disruptions and rigidity occur in the play patterns of emotionally disturbed children. Failure to develop imaginative play is indicative of serious pathology, and children who are undergoing stress show less reversibility, less diversity, and more aggression in play. Imaginativeness in play is associated with self-control, less impulsivity, independence, and social maturity. PEER ACCEPTANCE Assessing Peer Status Peer status is typically assessed in research by using sociometric techniques, in which children identify peers that they "especially like" and those that they "don't like very much." On the basis of these nominations, children have been classified as popular, those who receive many positive, but few negative nominations; rejected, those who receive many negative nominations, and few positive ones; neglected, those who receive few nominations in either direction; and average, those who have some friends but not as many as the popular group. Controversial children are liked by some peers and disliked by others. Rejection occurs for a variety of reasons; nonaggressive rejected children tend to be withdrawn and lack social skills; aggressive rejected children have low self-control and exhibit aggressive and other problem behaviors. Children often form first impressions based on names and appearance. Children respond adversely to unfamiliar names and to unattractive children. By age three, children distinguish attractive from unattractive children on the same basis that adults do, and they attribute more negative characteristics to children judged to be unattractive. Some evidence indicates that unattractive children tend to behave in more aggressive ways than other children, but this may be a result of being perceived more negatively by others. In general, children prefer spending time with peers of the same age and the same gender. Although age preferences may be due to the age-grading of many institutions in our society, some suggest that children would choose same-age playmates on their own. Segregation by gender is clearly self-imposed, and it seems to be related to differences in the interests and play patterns of girls and boys. Although children may have different goals, strategies, and behaviors when playing with peers, social skills such as reinforcing others, being able to initiate interactions effectively, and communicating well play important roles in social acceptance. Popular children engage in more prosocial behavior and help set the norms for a group, whereas rejected children are often aggressive, aversive, and socially unskilled. Neglected children are less talkative and more withdrawn. Consequences of Being Unpopular Being unpopular among peers can lead to both short-term and long-term problems. Unpopular children (especially rejected children) feel lonely and socially dissatisfied, and those children are more likely to drop out of school and develop criminal behavior patterns. In addition, social standing tends to remain stable across time and situations, showing the most stability for rejected children. Some programs designed to help these children by shaping socially desirable behavior through reinforcement and coaching social skills have proved beneficial. Parents play an important role in promoting children's peer relations. They serve as partners with whom the child acquires initial skills that help develop social skills used to interact with other children. They also act as coaches or educators about social contacts by giving advice and support, reinforcing useful behaviors, and modeling strategies for conduct with peers. Finally, they provide opportunities for peer interaction through their choice of neighborhood and their willingness to schedule visits with friends (especially for preschoolers). Although not all unpopular children need help in peer interactions, rejected children clearly can benefit from intervention. DEVELOPING FRIENDSHIPS What is a Friend? Children develop friendships with only a few peers. Expectations about friendships change during the elementary school years from someone who simply shares similar activities to include someone who can be told secrets, and who will be understanding, in addition to sharing activities. Studies indicate that friends interact differently with each other than with unacquainted peers, and the goals of friendship appear to change with development. For young children (ages 3 to 7) the goal is coordinated play, whereas for older children (ages 8 to 12) the goal is establishing group norms and being accepted by peers. During this period, self-disclosure becomes important. By adolescence (ages 13 to 17) the focus shifts to understanding the self so that self-disclosure is critical for friendship. Although children who are friends often disagree and fight, they tend to communicate more clearly, disclose themselves more, exchange more information, establish more common ground, and become able to resolve conflicts more effectively than strangers. They also share more and express more positive affects toward each other. As children become concerned with acceptance into peer groups and try to determine which actions will promote this and which actions will not, they may engage in negative gossip about other children. This may result in more bonding between those who share the gossip. THE FORMATION OF GROUPS Dominance Hierarchies In addition to friendships, children form groups that possess common goals and rules of conduct. Such groups are usually hierarchically organized to identify members' relationships with each other and to facilitate interaction. Dominance hierarchies within groups are apparent even among preschoolers and the "pecking order" appears to develop within a short time after the first contact. The criteria for establishing dominance changes with age from physical toughness to leadership abilities and academic performance. Within groups of children, hierarchies serve the purposes of resolving conflict, dividing up tasks, and allocating resources. A child's position in a hierarchy will affect the degree to which other children associate with her and imitate her. Cliques and Crowds In middle childhood, children may form cliques, which enhance their well-being and ability to cope with stress. Later children may be assigned by their peers to crowds, whose salience decreases by the end of high school. PEER AND ADULT INFLUENCES ON THE CHILD AND ADOLESCENT Peers and parents each exert some influence on children, with peers exerting more influence during the preadolescent and adolescent periods. However, peers and parents each have their own areas of expertise. Parents are more likely to be consulted about academic and career decisions, whereas peers are more likely to influence entertainment, fashion, and friendship choices. In most cases, parents and peers both influence adolescents' choices, and children from authoritative homes are less susceptible to negative peer pressure. Parents who are warm yet demanding and who grant psychological autonomy to their children and encourage them in education tend to counteract the negative influences of adolescents' associations with less adaptive crowds. Teenagers whose parents are low on these characteristics may be particularly susceptible to negative peer influence. PEER GROUPS IN DIFFERENT CULTURES Within and between cultures, patterns of peer interaction differ. Due to different socialization practices, peers have more or less influence. In Mexico and in Central American countries, for example, family influences remain strong throughout adolescence. Latino parents often directly discourage peer interaction.