The role of spatial context in shaping adolescents’ peer relationships

  • This article explores the role of neighbourhoods as a spatial context for peer relationships among adolescents. We examine the correlations between neighbourhood composition and places suitable for young people for friendship intimacy and peer belonging. We hypothesise that favourable demographic and social neighbourhood compositions, knowledge, and use of places suitable for young people, as well as the spatial appropriation of such places, promote peer relationships. The present study carries out empirical testing of the spatial hypotheses with survey data from adolescents (N = 3225) in two German cities with 30 neighbourhoods. Our results show that neighbourhood composition is not related to peer relationships. Nevertheless, knowledge of safe places suitable for adolescents, as well as the appropriation of unsupervised (hang out) places, correlate with peer relationships. Interestingly, there are divergent results for 7th and 9th graders that can be explained by the developmental stages of the adolescents.

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Metadaten
Author:Mats BeckmannGND, Katharina KnüttelGND, Sören PetermannORCiDGND, Till StefesGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-88595
DOI:https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v10i3.5444
Parent Title (German):Social inclusion
Publisher:Cogitatio
Place of publication:Lissabon
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2022/09/27
Date of first Publication:2022/09/20
Publishing Institution:Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek
Tag:adolescence; belonging; friendship; neighbourhood; peer relationship; spatial appropriation; spatial context
Volume:10
Issue:3
First Page:262
Last Page:272
Institutes/Facilities:Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Regionalforschung (ZEFIR)
Dewey Decimal Classification:Sozialwissenschaften / Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie
faculties:Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaft
Licence (English):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY 4.0 - Attribution 4.0 International