Relação entre pares e género: contributos da adaptação do Peer Relations Questionnaire junto de adolescentes portugueses

Understanding the differences in peers’ relationships betweengenders, whether these relationships are characterized by the existence ofprosocial behavior or violence towards others, are essential for education.Only with the appropriate knowledge of this reality we can recognize signsand behaviors but also adjust the psycho-educational intervention to promotethe integral development of all students. Therefore, this paper is focusedon two goals: to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Peer RelationsQuestionnaire in the Portuguese population and, using the results obtainedin it, to explore the existence of differences in the relationships betweenpeers by gender. Two studies have been conducted using two samples,composed of 304 and 712 adolescents aged between 11 and 16 years old.The results provided evidence for the instrument validity and reliability.Results from the differences and association tests, also allowed us to findsignificant differences in peer relationship by gender, with boys being moreviolent to peers but also being more victims that type of violence, and girlsdemonstrating more prosocial behavior. A negative relationship betweenviolent behavior and age was also found, as well as between violent behaviorof the adolescents and the father’s academic qualifications. These resultsare discussed based on the literature, and implications for research andintervention are presented.