The Developmental Process of Peer Support Networks: The Role of Friendship.

ABSTRACT: This study investigated the characteristics and development of peer support networks in an effort to unravel the role of friendship in this developmental process. The relationships between friendship networks and peer support networks were explored, and the influence of dyadic and triadic friendships on the development of peer support relationships was examined. Two waves of data were collected among a sample of adolescents in six Chinese junior high schools (n = 913 students from 28 classrooms; mean age = 14.13 years; 50.49% boys), and classroom friendship networks and peer support networks were analyzed. The results showed that peer support networks were sparse, hierarchical, and sex-segregated. Furthermore, peer support networks and friendship networks partially overlapped. Frien

SUBMITTER: Wang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7875894 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature