Peer group influences affect children much earlier than researchers suspected, according to a new study from the University of Maryland. Researchers say it provides a wake-up call to parents and educators to worry about undue group influences, congregations and biases that may manifest early, researchers say. The study appears in the May/June 2013 issue of Child Development and is available online. The researchers say their work represents a new line of research, what they call "group dynamics of childhood." No previous research has explored what children think about being challenged by groups that act in unjust or nontraditional ways. The findings refute an older view that conflicts between group loyalty and fairness are not yet part of elementary school-age children's everyday interactions. “This isn't just an adolescent problem,” says University of Maryland developmental psychologist Melanie Killen, lead researcher on the study. "Peer group pressure begins in elementary school, as early as age nine. It's what children actually encounter there every day." Even at this early age, children show moral independence and stand up to the group, he adds Killen. But it is also an environment in which the seeds of group prejudice can grow, if left unchecked. “Parents and teachers often lack children's nascent understanding of group dynamics, as well as children's willingness to resist pressure,” Killen explains. Children early begin to understand the costs and consequences of resisting peer pressure. By adolescence, they discover that everything becomes even more complicated. “The emergence of peer groups in elementary school helps children's development by providing positive friendships, relationships and social support, adds Killen. Disadvantages include the undue influence of a group when it imposes unfair standards, particularly on outsiders or members of "outgroup," which is what is often created when peers form an "ingroup." "Children may need help from adults when facing conflicts between loyalty to the group and fairness to strangers," Killen says. "They may have difficulty 'doing the right thing' and staying on good terms with friends in the group, but they don't know how. If a child shows discomfort and anxiety about spending time with friends, this may signal conflict in relationships with the peer group." The researchers conducted extended interviews and surveys with representative groups of fourth and eighth graders from a suburban area of ​​the Mid-Atlantic. All came from middle-income families and reflected the ethnic origins of the United States. They probed attitudes on a moral question - dividing resources equally for those in and out of the group, and on a question of tradition. (group t-shirt).).