3 ms·

As my wife and I said to each other 'You think they way you bring up your child has a massive effect - until you have your second child" Having said that, sayi

As my wife and I said to each other 'You think they way you bring up your child has a massive effect - until you have your second child" Having said that, saying "Peer groups are the dominant influence on a child’s personality and development, full stop." is over simple. Look at the children at school. They all share a peer group. Is there personality and development all aligned? Absolutely not. Diverse friendship groups develop with distinct interests and moral codes. How do you account for that?

jotakami 7y ago
The argument is not that a peer group affects all members in the same way, but that the effect of the peer group is dominant.
- toasterlovin 7y ago
  Just responding here as well. The book actually puts forward genetics as the most important cause of behavioral differences. It then argues that the next most important cause is not parenting but what is referred to in the literature as non-shared environment (aka, everything other than parents, family, neighborhood, etc, which are all grouped under shared environment). Shared environment has zero effect.
jlawson 7y ago
There's actually survey data about this. They ask people, basically, 'How much do differences in parenting style and decisions affect a child's personality/behavior?" Everyone in the survey thought there was a strong effect except one group: Mothers with two or more kids.
- lijason 7y ago
  There's probably some bias here where no parent is going to want to admit that they've treated their kids differently (likely unintentionally). Not to say that there isn't useful insight here anyway.
Spooky23 7y ago
It's all inter-related. The peer groups matter, but how they matter varies based on the environment. As one example, you may have a kid who has a shitty family life who will act up to demand attention. If you have inexperienced teachers in a classroom of 35, it's going to be difficult to negate the impact of that kid on the classroom.

jotakami 7y ago

The argument is not that a peer group affects all members in the same way, but that the effect of the peer group is dominant.

toasterlovin 7y ago
Just responding here as well. The book actually puts forward genetics as the most important cause of behavioral differences. It then argues that the next most important cause is not parenting but what is referred to in the literature as non-shared environment (aka, everything other than parents, family, neighborhood, etc, which are all grouped under shared environment). Shared environment has zero effect.

jlawson 7y ago

There's actually survey data about this. They ask people, basically, 'How much do differences in parenting style and decisions affect a child's personality/behavior?" Everyone in the survey thought there was a strong effect except one group: Mothers with two or more kids.

lijason 7y ago
There's probably some bias here where no parent is going to want to admit that they've treated their kids differently (likely unintentionally). Not to say that there isn't useful insight here anyway.

Spooky23 7y ago

It's all inter-related. The peer groups matter, but how they matter varies based on the environment. As one example, you may have a kid who has a shitty family life who will act up to demand attention. If you have inexperienced teachers in a classroom of 35, it's going to be difficult to negate the impact of that kid on the classroom.