The benefits and consequences of high status in adolescence: Implications for peer influence processes, socioevaluative concern, and empathic propensity

For nearly five decades, researchers have emphasized the benefits of high peer status relative to the consequences of low peer status across numerous developmental outcomes. However, burgeoning work now suggests that there may be unexpected downsides associated with a positive reputation among peers. Further, remarkably little is known about the mechanisms driving the differences between high- and low-status youth that have been so well studied. In light of these crucial future directions of peer status literature, the current work offers three empirical studies to further our knowledge of contemporary adolescents’ reputations among peers. Study 1 utilizes an experimental paradigm to probe the mechanisms driving popular adolescents’ heightened influence over their peers’ health risk behaviors. Findings suggest that boys, but not girls, conformed to high-status e-confederates in order to experience an increase in their alignment with popular peers, resulting in subsequent increases in their self-esteem. Study 2 focuses on the socio-cognitive similarities between youth of high- and low- peer status, particularly their socio-evaluative concern. Findings suggest that well-liked and rejected youth have relatively comparable desires for in-person peer status, while popular and unpopular youth have similar drives for status within the digital sphere. Finally, study 3 examined longitudinal covariation between empathic propensities and peer status throughout adolescence. Within-person findings provided evidence of a developmental cascade; increases in popularity were associated with decreases in empathic concern, while decreases in empathic concern were associated with increases in popularity. Collectively, these studies highlight the critical importance of studying the benefits and consequences of each peer status dimension, with a particular emphasis on the mechanisms driving potential similarities and differences. Future research in this area should continue to expand upon developmental change in peer status correlates, while taking care to appreciate relevant demographic factors and separating between- and within-person effects.