Summary: Peer pressure in adolescence is often described as a single, overwhelming force. New longitudinal research, however, shows that peer influence is specialized: different kinds of peers shape different aspects of a young person’s life. Following 543 middle-school students over a semester, researchers found that best friends predominantly affect private, emotional and academic domains, while popular classmates shape public-facing behaviors such as social media use and body image.
Best friends serve as the main influence on what the study calls “private currency”—internal emotions, emotional clarity, and school performance. Popular peers control the “public market,” setting visible norms for online behavior, appearance, and what counts as socially acceptable in the wider classroom. This distinction provides a clearer framework for parents, teachers, and practitioners working with adolescents.
Key Facts
- Private domain: Best friends have the strongest influence on emotional problems, emotional clarity, problem behaviors, and academic achievement.
- Public domain: Popular classmates primarily shape social media engagement and weight- and appearance-related concerns.
- Specialized influence: Adolescents look to different peers for different needs—intimacy and emotional support come from close friends; public cues come from high-status peers.
- Snowball effect: Intimate friendships can amplify internal struggles like anxiety or disengagement, which can spread between close friends through mutual sharing.
- Status norms: Teens often adopt behaviors modeled by popular peers to maintain or improve standing in the broader peer hierarchy, even when they are not friends with those high-status students.
Source: FAU
Why peers matter
As children move into adolescence, peers take on a central role. With parents and other adult figures stepping back, young people turn to classmates for cues about how to act, what to value, and how to present themselves. But this new study from Florida Atlantic University demonstrates that not all peers influence teens in the same way.
Researchers at Florida Atlantic University, in collaboration with Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania, conducted the first study designed to compare the influence of best friends and popularity-based classroom norms in the same statistical model. Published in the journal Development and Psychopathology, the work tracked 543 students aged 10 to 14 across one academic semester and assessed multiple dimensions of socioemotional adjustment.
Students completed self-reports measuring academic performance, emotional well-being, problem behaviors, social media use, and weight concerns. They also nominated their best friends and identified classmates they considered popular. The research team used popularity-weighted classroom averages to define status-based norms for each measured domain.
Brett Laursen, Ph.D., professor of psychology at FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, notes that this design allowed the team to ask a precise question: when both best-friend influence and popularity-based norms are considered together, which peers matter more for which outcomes?
The answer was consistent and revealing. Close friends were the leading influence on internal and private outcomes—emotional problems, clarity about emotions, problem behaviors, and, for older students, school achievement. In contrast, popular classmates drove norms for public behaviors—how much students use social media and, among older adolescents, concerns about weight and appearance.
Mary Page Leggett-James, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and an associate researcher at Gallup who completed the work as part of her doctoral dissertation at FAU, summarized the findings: “Peer influence is not a single, undifferentiated force. Adolescents are discerning: they turn to their inner circle for emotional support and to status leaders for cues about how to present themselves publicly.”
Laursen adds that the twin dynamics have practical implications. “Friendships are powerful because they are private and emotionally intense,” he said. “Teens confide in best friends; that closeness can provide support but can also transmit and intensify struggles like anxiety or school disengagement. Appearance and online behavior unfold on a public stage where popular students set visible trends. Others conform because it yields approval in the larger peer group.”
Implications for intervention
Because different peer relationships shape different kinds of difficulties, interventions should be targeted. Strategies that focus only on breaking up friendships or applying broad anti–peer-pressure messages risk missing the real dynamics at work. To address emotional distress or academic problems, efforts should focus on friendship processes—helping adolescents form healthier, supportive close relationships. To change harmful trends around social media or body image, strategies must shift classroom status norms by encouraging visible leadership from high-status students toward healthier standards.
Leggett-James emphasizes that identifying the correct source of influence is essential: “If we target the wrong peer dynamic, we risk missing the problem entirely. Work to strengthen positive friendship dynamics to reduce emotional and academic issues, and change status-driven norms to improve public-facing behaviors.”
Study details and authors
The longitudinal sample included 543 students (268 girls, 275 boys) from 29 fifth through eighth grade classrooms in three Lithuanian public middle schools. Data were collected twice during one school year—fall and winter—about three months apart. Popularity and academic achievement were measured via peer nominations, and best friends were identified from outgoing nominations. Status-based norms were computed as popularity-weighted classroom averages for each variable at Time 1. Analyses used longitudinal Group Actor-Partner Interdependence Models to separate friend effects from status-based norms.
Co-authors include René Veenstra, Ph.D., professor of sociology at the University of Groningen, Netherlands; and Goda Kaniušonytė, Ph.D., professor at the Institute of Psychology, Mykolas Romeris University.
Funding: Supported by the European Social Fund under a grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania and by the state budget-funded Establishment of Centers of Excellence at Mykolas Romeris University initiative.
Key Questions Answered:
A: It depends on the issue. For emotional struggles or school performance, teens primarily mirror their closest friends. For trends that are visible to peers—social media habits or appearance concerns—they look to popular, high-status classmates.
A: Middle-school peer groups are often hierarchical. Public-facing behaviors like appearance and online presence help maintain status. Because popular students are visible trendsetters, their behavior becomes the standard others emulate to gain acceptance.
A: If you’re concerned about mental health or grades, focus on your child’s close friendships and support healthy emotional connections. If social media or body image is the issue, work to influence status norms—encourage leaders and popular students to model realistic, healthy standards.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- The original journal paper was reviewed in full for accuracy.
- Additional context was provided by editorial staff to clarify implications for practice.
About this research
Author: Gisele Galoustian
Source: FAU
Contact: Gisele Galoustian – FAU
Image credit: Neuroscience News
Original Research (open access): “Different peers influence different behaviors: Conformity to best friends and status-based norms across the transition into adolescence” by Mary Page Leggett-James, René Veenstra, Goda Kaniušonytė, and Brett Laursen. Development and Psychopathology. DOI: 10.1017/S0954579426101138
Abstract
Different peers influence different behaviors: Conformity to best friends and status-based norms across the transition into adolescence
This longitudinal study tests whether friends and popularity-based classroom norms exert influence of differing magnitudes across behavioral domains during early adolescence. The sample included 543 students (ages 10–14) from 29 classrooms in Lithuanian public middle schools. Measures included self-reports of emotional problems, emotional clarity, problem behaviors, social media use, and weight concerns at two time points three months apart. Peer nominations provided popularity and achievement metrics and identified top-ranked best friends. Status-based norms were calculated as popularity-weighted classroom averages at Time 1. Longitudinal Group Actor-Partner Interdependence Model analyses showed that best friends primarily influenced internal, private domains—emotional problems, emotional clarity, problem behaviors, and academic achievement among older adolescents—while status-based norms shaped public-facing behaviors such as social media use and, for older students, weight concerns.