This introduction outlines the goals for the special section on social norms and behavioral development. The study of social norms has attracted much interest in peer relations research, and has turned attention to group-level processes, often defined based on the classroom, which create and sustain shared meanings that impact adolescent behavioral and social adjustment. Norms can be differentiated in three ways. First, prescriptive or injunctive norms can be distinguished from descriptive norms. Second, a distinction can be made between what is salient for all classmates or for a subgroup of norm setters, in particular popular peers. Third, social norms can be distinguished from perceived norms. The contributions to this special section invite debate on the future of research on norms, and suggest numerous avenues for further research, with hopes that an understanding of how social norms affect social development will better inform peer relations research as well as norm-based interventions.

本导言概述了社会规范和行为发展特别部分的目标。社会规范的研究引起了同伴关系研究的极大兴趣，并将注意力转向了通常基于课堂定义的群体层面的过程，这些过程创造并维持了影响青少年行为和社会适应的共同意义。规范可以通过三种方式进行区分。首先，可以将规定性或禁令性规范与描述性规范区分开来。其次，可以区分对所有同学或规范制定者小组，特别是受欢迎的同龄人来说什么是显着的。第三，可以将社会规范与感知规范区分开来。对这一特殊部分的贡献引发了关于规范研究的未来的辩论，并提出了许多进一步研究的途径，