Read the interview with Brett Laursen, a Professor of Psychology, and decide if the statements are True, False, or Not stated.

Reporter: When a new school year begins, students are dealing with classes, sports, and other extracurricular activities. Most students will also face an entirely different set of challenges with peer pressure. Today, we are going to talk with a psychologist, Brett Laursen, who looks at the science behind peer pressure, both the good and the bad.

Brett Laursen: It's a pleasure to speak with you.

Reporter: When does peer pressure typically begin to occur in children's lives and what impact does it have on child and adolescent development?

Brett Laursen: It begins as soon as children start to pay attention to what other children think about them. So, we can see peer influence in the very early grade school years. We see it over behaviour problems where one set of peers will influence another to act badly. We also see it over academic achievement where friends do better when they're paired with other kids who are doing better in school. We see this as early as first grade. Our data in both Finland and the US suggests that these influences happen with very young children.

Reporter: What about any difference between boys and girls when it comes to peer pressure?

Brett Laursen: We don't have firm evidence on this, but I can tell you this much is for sure. Boys spend much more time in groups than girls. The influence that boys receive is much more likely to be concerned with fitting into the group. Boys need the approval of a larger group of peers whereas girls are much more focused on getting along with one particular individual.

Reporter: What can parents do to help children recognise and deal appropriately with peer pressure?

Brett Laursen: It's a good question. The first thing that parents can do is help children recognise that attempts to influence them are everywhere. Once children start to see that there are these influences everywhere, that's really the first step of the process. So, you recognise when there are influence attempts going on and you can start to label them and children become more adept at recognising and labelling them and identifying them. Then, you can start to talk with them about the kind of influence you want to be shaped by.

Reporter: Something else?

Brett Laursen: Parents can serve as a buffer against peer influence. Children who have good relations with their parents feel that they have less of a need to please their friends.

Reporter: A lot of what you're talking about is negative peer influence, but some of your research has looked at how peer influence can be a positive factor in a child's life. Is it right?

Brett Laursen: Well, if you think about it logically, it can't possibly be the case that all peer influence is bad. But peers can be good. We know that kids are going to be influenced for better or for worse by whoever is the more influential partner. So, if we take two friends out and we know that one is particularly influential — let's say the one who has more friend options or the one who is older, or the one who is doing better in school, or the one who is more attractive — the one who is more influential is going to set the tone for the influence. If the one who is more influential doesn't like to drink, then we have data that suggests that, actually, teens will resist alcohol. It all depends on the characteristics of the more influential partner and the same is true in a group. The group leaders. So, the more the group leaders have a positive agenda, the more than other children are more likely to be influenced by that positive agenda.

Reporter: I understand. It's great. Thank you so much for joining us, Dr Laursen.

Brett Laursen: Pleasure was mine. Thank you.

Choose the correct option.

Children start suffering peer pressure when they go to elementary school. [True|False|Not stated]

Girls are influenced by the group while boys are influenced by specific individuals. [True|False|Not stated]

In single-parent families, children are usually more influenced by peers. [True|False|Not stated]

Peer pressure has only negative effects on children. [True|False|Not stated]