i^ychokwicsl Bulletin 1987, Vol. 102, No. 3, 357-389 Copyright 1987 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0033-2909/87/S00.75 Peer Relations and Later Personal Adjustment: Are Low-Accepted Children At Risk? Jeffrey G. Parker and Steven R. Asher University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign In this review, we examine the oft-made claim that peer-relationship difficulties in childhood predict serious adjustment problems in later life. The article begins with a framework for conceptualizing and assessing children's peer difficulties and with a discussion of conceptual and methodological issues in longitudinal risk research. Following this, three indexes of problematic peer relationships (acceptance, aggressiveness, and shyness/withdrawal) are evaluated as predictors of three later out- comes (dropping out of school, criminality, and psychcpathology). The relation between peer diffi- culties and later maladjustment is examined in terms of both the consistency and strength of predic- tion. A review and analysis of the literature indicates general support for the hypothesis that children with poor peer adjustment are at risk for later life difficulties. Support is clearest for the outcomes of dropping out and criminality. It is also clearest for lowacceptance and aggressiveness as predictors, whereas a link between shyness/withdrawal and later maladjustment has not yet been adequately tested. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the implicit models that have guided past research in this area and a set of recommendations for the next generation of research on the risk hypothesis. There are striking individual differences in the extent to which children are accepted by their peers. In the extreme, some children are well regarded by all and enjoy many friend- ships, whereas others are nearly universally disliked and have no friends. In this review, we consider the implication of vari- ability in acceptance or in acceptance-relevant behavior (ag- gression and shyness/withdrawal) for children's subsequent per- sonal adjustment in three domains: dropping out of school, ju- venile and adult criminality, and adult psychopathology. Our goal is to evaluate the empirical support for the premise that poorly accepted children stand a greater chance than others of developing later life difficulties and, therefore, should be consid- ered a group of children at risk. This premise is widespread in the social development literature. Indeed, it serves as the ex- plicit rationale for attempts to delineate the social skills that ensure adequate peer acceptance (see Hartup, 1983; Putallaz & Gottman, 1981,1983), for attempts to design effective interven- tions to aid unpopular children (see Asher & Renshaw, 1981; Combs & Slaby, 1977; J. C. Conger & Keane, 1981; Foster & The research and writing of this article was supported by a university fellowship from the University of Illinois to the first author, by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Research Grant HD05951 to the second author, and by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Training Grant HD07205. This article benefited greatly from our lengthy and thought-provok- ing discussions with Kenneth A. Dodge. We would also like to acknowl- edge Gary W. I add, Gladys A. Williams, and three anonyous reviewers for their very helpful comments. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jeffrey G. Parker, University of Illinois, Department of Psychology, 603 East Daniel Street, Champaign, Illinois 61820, or to Steven R. Asher, University of Illinois, Bureau of Educational Research, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, Illinois 61820. Ritchey, 1979; Hops, 1982; Ladd & Mize, 1983; Wanlass & Prinz, 1982), and for appeals for social skills training in schools (e.g., Johnson & Johnson, 1981; Stocking, Arezzo, & Leavitt, 1980). The risk premise can also be found in several introduc- tory child development textbooks (e.g., Fitch, 1985; E. Hall, Perlmutter, & Lamb, 1982; Kopp & Krakow, 1982; Shaffer, 1985; Skolnick, 1986) and in books on friendship intended for nonspecialists (e.g., Duck, 1983). Yet the empirical basis for the risk premise has not been adequately evaluated to date. Studies suggesting a link between problematic childhood peer relationships and adult maladjustment have accumulated slowly but more or less continuously since the early 1930s, However, widespread acceptance of the premise that low-ac- cepted children are at risk is relatively recent and accompanies a rise in theoretical and empirical interest in children's peer relationships generally (Hartup, 1983; Parke & Asher, 1983). An emergent theme in this broader literature is the conviction that peer interaction plays indispensable multiple causal roles in the socialization of social competence. As Johnson (1980) wrote, "Experiences with peers are not superficial luxuries to be enjoyed by some students and not by others. Student-student relationships are an absolute necessity for healthy cognitive and social development and socialization" (p. 125). This "necessities-not-luxuries" conviction derives in part from rediscovery of the theories of Piaget (1932), Mead (1934), and Sullivan (1953), each of whom accorded child-child inter- action a central place in facilitating children's development (see Damon, 1977;Denzin, 1977; Flavell, 1977;Rest, 1983;Selman, 1979;Shantz, 1983;Youniss, 1980). It also gains appeal because of empirical work demonstrating the positive influence of peer interaction on the socialization of aggressive impulses (see Hartup, 1978) and on cognitive (e.g., Rardin & Moan, 1971), social-cognitive (see Shantz, 1983), linguistic (see Bates, 1975), 357 This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.