This study assessed the reported responses of junior high school students with learning disabilities and normally achieving classmates to peer pressure to conform in prosocial and antisocial activities. The results replicate those of an earlier study in finding that students with learning disabilities indicated more willingness than their classmates to conform to peer pressure to engage in antisocial actions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alley, G.R., Warner, M.M., Schumaker, J.B., Deshler, D.D., & Clark, F. (1980). An epidemiological study of learning disabled and low-achieving adolescents in secondary schools: Behavioral and emotional status from the perspective of parents and teachers. Unpublished manuscript, University of Kansas, Lawrence.
2.
Berndt, T. (1979). Developmental changes in conformity to peers and parents. Developmental Psychology, 15, 608–616.
3.
Broder, P.K., Dunivant, N., Smith, E.C., & Sutton, L.P. (1981). Further observations on the link between learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 838–850.
4.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1970). Reaction to social pressure from adults versus peers among Soviet day school and boarding school pupils in the perspective of an American sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 15, 179–189.
5.
Bryan, T., Bay, M., & Donahue, M. (1988). Implications of the learning disabilities definition for the Regular Education Initiative. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 21, 23–28.
6.
Bryan, T., Donahue, M., & Pearl, R. (1981). Learning disabled children's peer interaction during a small group problem-solving task. Learning Disability Quarterly, 4, 13–22.
7.
Bryan, T., Werner, M.A., & Pearl, R. (1982). Learning disabled students' conformity responses to pro-social and antisocial situations. Learning Disability Quarterly, 5, 344–352.
8.
Hazel, J.S., Schumaker, J.B., & Sheldon-Wildgen, J. (1982). Application of a group training program in social skills and problem solving skills to learning disabled and non-learning disabled youth. Learning Disability Quarterly, 5, 398–408.
9.
Interagency Committee on Learning Disabilities. (1987). Learning disabilities: A report to the U.S. Congress. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
10.
Murray, C.A. (1976). The link between learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency: Current theory and knowledge. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
11.
Perlmutter, B.Crocker, J., Cordray, D., & Garstecki, D. (1983). Sociometric status and related personality characteristics of mainstreamed learning disabled adolescents. Learning Disability Quarterly, 6, 20–30.
12.
White, W.J. (1985). Perspectives on the education and training of learning disabled adults. Learning Disability Quarterly, 8, 231–236.
13.
Wright, J.C., Giammarino, M., & Parad, H.W. (1986). Social status in small groups: Individual-group similarity and the social “misfit.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 523–536.