1) increases in peer interaction relative to family/adult interaction 

2) peer interaction apart from adult guidance/control 

3) gender reorientation, as adolescents seek out members of opposite sex

4) increase in size of peer group; increase in intensity of friendships 

* important factors for adolescent friendships: common interests, loyalty, intimacy

* self-disclosing conversations 

* comparable to attachment in infancy--> social referencing, secure base 

* adolescent girls' friendships more intense than boys 

* adolescent boys' friendships less close, more numerous 

* girls want friends in whom they can confide; boys want friends to support them when they get in trouble 

* social status, who you hang out with, how you ineract with others impacted by what clique, crowd you're in

* importance of peer groups for identity information 

* importance of peer group for tansition to sexual relations 

* peer interactions shift from same-sex cliques to heterosexual crowds 

* the search for "true" self, creating a unified sense of identity 

* identity= unique and consistent self definition 

* must resolve public and private selves 

1) crisis/exploration: process by which adolescents examine future opportunities, choices parents have made, search for alternatives 

2) commitment: process by which adolescents commit to goals, values, beliefs 

1) identity achievement: adolescent goes through period of decision making, then arrives at decision

2) foreclosure: adolescent never goes through identity crisis, just assumes patterns of parents 

3) moratorium: adolescent has identity crisis, doesn't arrive at decision 

4) identity diffusion: adolescent tries out several identities without being able to settle on one, adopts cynical attitude toward whole process