Two key themes

children’s friendships with their peers provide a arena for many aspects of their cultural lives – children play with friends, share experiences of television/ music with friends, go shopping/ cinema or town etc.
Within and through friendship children have opportunities to explore dimensions of experiences which can have both formative and lasting effects – within friendships, children can experience addiction, intimacy, communication, sharing and cooperation, also… conflict, jealousy and being excluded/ bullied.

Comparisons with friends: children develop an understanding of who they are and what they aspire to be/ not to be.
Friendship extends emotional experience both good and bad
Provide new opportunities to be creative/ increase autonomy

Friendship is a voluntary relationship
No prescribes or obligatory
Contribute significantly to socal and congative development
Shucksmith (1993)
Best childhood predictor of adult adaption
Not school grades or classroom behaviour
But how well a child gets on with other children

Children who are disliked, are aggressive/ disruptive, who are unable to sustain close relationships, who cannot establish a place for themselves in the peer culture are at risk of difficulties with future interactions.

Friendships are important in four key respects:
Emotional resources
Cognitive Resources
Acquisition and elaboration of social skills foundations for future relationships
Research demonstates that friendships are ways through which children develi a sense of themselves in society
Similarities and differences psychological – experiences sociololgical – analysis on