Peer Groups: Tweens

A peer group can be defined as a group of people who share certain things in common; for example age, social status or interests

Tweens are children between middle and early adolescence and are usually between 8 and 12 years old.

As children grow older, their peers become more important. Time spent with family decreases while time spent with peers increases. This usually happens in the middle of the tween years. Around the end of elementary school, and the beginning of middle school, kids start to rely on their peers for support recreation. Kids in their tween years start to spend nearly half as much time with their parents as they used to. They start getting involved with peer groups and spending time with them outside of school, on weekends, after school, or summer breaks. Even though parents loose a lot of contact time in these years, it doesn't mean they lose their influence. Parents still have a say in who their child interacts with, what school they go to, and what extra-curricular activities their child is involved in.

Intimacy is the degree to which two people share personal knowledge, thoughts and feelings

It is the tween who feels the alienation from parents and authority and the intimacy with peers. Around the age of 10, tweens start to increase intimacy with their peers and take friendships beyond play mates. Tweens report to feel the happiest with their peers because they can be open about personal topics, and peers are more understanding.

In the tween years, they aren't many labeled peer groups to be part of. Usually in middle school, there are the trendsetters, or popular kids, and everyone else. This simplicity increases peer influence because there are limited choices to labels.

created by Erin Adair for FCS adolescent development

links to Teen or Emerging Adults