A Study On The Influence Of Junior High School Students’ Peer Relationship On Self–Differentiation

Self-differentiation refers to the degree of integration and differentiation between individuals and other important individuals as well as the ability to maintain individual independence in an intimate relationship.Peer relationships refer to the relationships established by people at the same age in the course of their interactions.Both of them are important factors affecting the physical and mental health of Junior School students.From the perspective of individual socialization,peer relationship plays an important role in the development of Junior School students’ socialization.Murray Bowen’s family system theory believes that self-differentiation is a part of individual socialization.Therefore,there may be a certain connection between peer relationship and self-differentiation.It studies the influence of peer relationships between Junior School students on the level of self-differentiation,describes the status quo from the perspectives of peer relationships and self-differentiation.And it also has a related analysis and multiple regression from the six dimensions of peer relationships : the level of social competence awareness,pure loneliness,peer status evaluation,social unfulfillment,peer mutual evaluation scores,peers’ positive nomination,and the four dimensions of self-differentiation level: emotional responsiveness,emotional disconnection,ego position,integration with others,studying the correlation and causal relationship between various dimensions.In the end,suggestions were made from aspects of individuals,families,and schools in order to promote the level of self-differentiation through the promotion of peer relationships between Junior School students.The paper quotes from Asher’s “Loneliness Scale”,revised by Li Xiaowei and Zou Hong(2014),Moren(1934)’s peer nomination method,and Skowron and Schmitt’s revised“ Self-Differentiation Questionnaire” introduced by Wu Yaohui(2007).After the research,data analysis and invididual interview of a total of 175 students from L Junior School,Haidian District,Beijing,we find out:(1)The overall score of the peer relationships between Junior School students is good;the gender difference is not obvious,while the grade difference is more obvious.(2)The self-differentiation level of the Junior School students is generally higher;the gender difference is more obvious,while the grade difference is only evident in the emotional response dimension.(3)There are correlations among the four dimensions of social competence awareness,pure loneliness,peer status evaluation,and social unfulfillment in Junior School students’ peer relationships and the each dimension of self-differentiation;there is also a correlation between peer mutual evaluation and the two dimensions of self-differentiation: responsiveness and emotional disconnection.(4)Junior School students’ peer relationships can significantly predict and adjust their level of self-differentiation.