The early developmental antecedents of individual differences in children's social functioning with peers in third grade were examined using longitudinal data from the large-scale National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) study of early child care. In a sample of 1,364 children, with family and child factors controlled, the…

Changes in feelings of self-worth and peer acceptance associated with self-enhancing perceptions of their peer acceptance were examined for a normative sample and for a group of peer-rejected children. Whether the correlates of self-enhancement differed as a function of the way in which perceptions were assessed (i.e., general versus specific…

Mediator models were examined in which children's emotional reactions to peer aggression were hypothesized to mediate their selection of coping strategies and subsequent peer victimization and internalizing problems. Self-report data were collected from 145 ethnically diverse kindergarten through fifth grade children (66 females and 79 males) who…