Developing Friendships Throughout Development

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Social Skills are a set of behaviors necessary to get along with and be accepted by others in order to maintain friendships. They require being able to adjust one’s own behaviors to certain situations as well as their own personal needs and desires (Boyd & Bee, 2012). According to Kim (2003) “In early childhood classrooms, approximately 10 to 24 percent of children are classified as popular, while 10 to 22 percent of children are classified as rejected and 12 to 20 percent as neglected. The rest of the children are classified as having an average status of popularity by peers” (Kim, 2003). In this paper I will explore the importance of friendship as well as some social skills and their effect on maintaining friendships from infancy through old age. Friendships can have a significant influence on one’s mind, body and spirit. Friends can help one celebrate good times and help comfort in bad. Having friends prevents one from being lonely, increases ones sense of belonging and purpose in life, can help to reduce stress, make one feel worthy and improves confidence in one’s self. Everyone can benefit from friendship. Friendships can develop at any age and can begin as early as infancy. An infant cognition study offers new evidence that babies make speculations about social relationships (Ingmire, 2014). Ingmire (2014) mentions that infants can conclude whether others are probable friends by observing their likes and dislikes even before they have developed language skills or have learned much about social structures at all(Ingmire, 2014). Arranged into groups of sixty- four, nine month old infants were shown videos of two adults. The adults in the videos each ate two foods and reacted in either a positive or a negative way to ea... ... middle of paper ... ...an development (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Hebert-Myers, H., Guttentag, C. L., Swank, P. R., Smith, K. E., & Landry, S. H. (2006). The Importance of Language, Social, and Behavioral Skills Across Early and Later Childhood as Predictors of Social Competence With Peers. Applied Developmental Science, 10(4), 174-187. doi:10.1207/s1532480xads1004_2 Ingmire,J.(2014). Infants show ability to tell friends from foes. Retrieved from http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2014/01/08/infants-show-ability-tell-friends-foes Kim, Y. A. (2003). Necessary social skills related to peer acceptance. (Review of Research). Childhood Education, 79(4), 234+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.bakerezproxy.palnet.info/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA100734911&v=2.1&u=lom_accessmich&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=5ff88bc5c9ddf6b3c84572d03b77cfae http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/adolescence/part9.html

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