Human development concepts and theories

Human Development: The importance of peer influence get by with a little help from my friends.' This phrase may not merely be a lyric in a popular Beatles' tune, but an eloquent summation of what may be the most profoundly influential factor upon a child's development, second only to the new media of the Internet. Of course to some degree, it is difficult to isolate external shaping forces upon human development into neat categories like family, school, and the media. It is hard to say which one has the greatest influence and weight in shaping the course of a child's life because they are all interconnected. A family's socioeconomic status, for example, will affect the school district a child attends and the media the child can afford. But a poor teacher, even in a good school district, can set children at a disadvantage from learning the basics if the child does not learn to read within his or her developmental window. Still, it cannot be denied that research increasingly shows that friends than more parents may be the most important influence on a child's life, along with the way children are able to access friends through the media of the World Wide Web.

For example, Judith Rich Harris' work indicates that children's social environment, specifically their interaction with their peers, "permanently modifies their inborn psychological characteristics....children rarely transfer their behavior at home to their behavior outside the home" (Sleek 1998). Of course, parents influence a child's development, home location, choice of school and thus their selection of their peer group. Parents also have a contextual influence upon their child's life within the home, but Harris argues that once children leave the home, they tailor their ethical standards to that of their peer group, not their parent's expectations of how they should behave.

Furthermore, "behavioral science has amassed little evidence to show that good parents can positively influence even the most troubled or temperamental child" (Sleek 1998). And not only badly behaved children are heavily subject to peer influence. A child who wears a sweater at home casts it off when in school because it is not cool. Children who are honest at home may cheat or lie at school or on the playground. Children who fight with their siblings and parents may be docile around their friends, or a loquacious child at school may be quiet at home, or vice versa. Perhaps the most potent example of the importance of peer influence is children's acquisition of a second language, as students with non-English speaking parents are able to learn the English language away from home, and speak English with the language of their peers outside the home "and primarily speak that second language in adulthood" (Sleek 1998).

Of course, children from non-English speaking homes may experience additional difficulties in school compared with their natively fluent peers but the ability to use English socially, if the environment requires it, demonstrates the significance of peer group influence even in how the child expresses him or herself. Peer influence can even have a strong impact academic success. "Research suggests that those who start kindergarten with a friend in their class make a better adjustment to school than those who do not start with a friend. Furthermore, children who maintain their friendships as the school year progresses like school better, and children who make new friends make greater gains in school performance" (Asher & Williams 1993). A student's success as measured by high test scores is strongly correlated with the scores of a student's peer group in the same grade suggested one 2003 study by the Public Policy Institute of California, entitled "New Insights into School and Classroom Factors Affecting Student Achievement."

To a great extent, of course, the influence of peers upon children's development is socially contextual. Centuries ago, when America was mainly agrarian, and schooling was hard to come by, the children's parents, relatives, and siblings were their main social source of interaction. Family members formed the individual's social environment, rather than their same-age peer group. But today, by age 11 it is estimated that up to 50% of the individual's social activity occurs within the context of peers and by adolescence and time spent interacting with peers exceeds time spent interacting with the parent or any other socialization agent" ("Developmental psychology: The peer context," the PSI Cafe, 2003).

This is expected in American culture, indeed, the fact that we speak of generations, as in Generation Y or Generation X, the Greatest Generation, indicates how it is normalized for children to ally with their peers in their social habits and attitudes. Perhaps the most profound difference between this generation and the past generation is the influence of new media upon children's development. The impact of high levels of violence and sexuality on television and how this affects children's attention spans, sense of self, propensity towards shows of aggression, and other aspects of development is still quite contentious. However, there is agreement that more than television or music, the Internet has had the most profound influence upon the current generation of teens.

The new media, as well as exposing teens to new information, music, and influences, also provides a potent source of social connectivity. "Between 75 and 90% of teenagers in the United States use the Internet to email, instant message (IM), visit chat rooms and explore other sites on the World Wide Web" (Willenz, 2006). The new media may thus be the second most profound influence upon teens today, but that is not simply because teens are passive consumers of this media but also because the media helps foster what is already such an important part of adolescent life, namely talking and interacting with friends. Once upon a time, teens had to do this face-to-face, now they can do so by looking at a cell phone 24/7. Today, teens are constantly in contact with their friends, and even speak their own language, the language of IMs and emails. Even young children are becoming consumers of the new media, and the personal yet interactive quality of the Internet means that parents may have less of an influence upon children's behavior than before, as it is difficult to monitor what the children accesses online.