Preschool teachers' perceptions about relationships with students (teacher-child relationships [TCRs]) predict children's subsequent social competence (SC) and academic progress. Why this is so remains unclear. Do TCRs shape children's development, or do child attributes influence both TCRs and subsequent development? Relations between TCRs and…

Research connecting children's understanding of mental states to their peer relations at school remains scarce. Previous work by the authors demonstrated that children's understanding of mental states in the context of a faux pas--a social blunder involving unintentional insult--is associated with concurrent peer rejection. The present report…

This study examined whether ethnic segregation is concurrently (fall) and prospectively (fall to spring) associated with social status among 4th- and 5th-grade African American and European American children ("n" = 713, ages 9-11 years). Segregation measures were (a) same-ethnicity favoritism in peer affiliations and (b) cross-ethnicity…

The association among mothers', fathers', and infants' risk and cognitive and social behaviors at 24 months was examined using structual equation modeling and data on 4,200 on toddlers and their parents from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort. There were 3 main findings. First, for cognitive outcomes, maternal risk was directly…

Studies show that children who use relational aggression process social information in unique ways; however, findings have been inconsistent and limited by methodological weaknesses. This short-term longitudinal study examined developmental changes in 245 (49% female; ages 8-13) 3rd through 8th graders' normative beliefs about relational…

This study examined the dual roles of adolescents' perceptions of social acceptance and sociometric popularity in predicting relative changes over time in adolescents' social functioning. Observational, self-report, and peer report data were obtained from 164 adolescents who were interviewed at age 13 years and then again at age 14 years, as well…

Language is drawn on extensively in friendships but has received scant attention in the developmental literature. This study compared friendship quality in 16-year-old adolescents with and without specific language impairment (SLI), testing the extent it is predicted by individual differences in social behaviors and language ability. Participants…

A sample of 341 5 1/2-year-old children participating in an ongoing longitudinal study was the focus of a study on the relation between cardiac vagal regulation and peer status. To assess cardiac vagal regulation, resting measures of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA change (suppression) to 3 cognitively and emotionally challenging tasks…

Studied 14 peer dyads at 16, 20, 24, 28, and 32 months to assess developmental changes in social coordinations. Results indicated a marked increase with age in acts coordinated with those of a peer. Imitations of the peer's nonverbal actions accounted for most of the developmental change. (RJC)

Behavioral and physiological assessments of 41 seven-and-one-half-year-old children who had been selected to be inhibited or uninhibited at 21 months and observed again at four and five-and-one-half years revealed that each of the two original behavioral profiles predicted theoretically reasonable derivatives. Shy children remained shy, while…

A transcript-narrative analysis technique was used to identify interpersonal negotiation strategies of two nine-year-old boys selected from a pool of children with socioemotional and interpersonal difficulties. Strategies were classified according to four developmental levels: impulsive/physical, unilateral/coercive, reciprocal/influential, and…

Three questions are addressed: (1) Are infants as young as six months capable of interacting with a peer? (2) What type of social acts are used during these early encounters? and (3) Do toys facilitate the interactions? (Author/MP)

Obtained peer nominations and observed peer contacts for three-, four-, and five-year-old preschoolers from fall to spring. Found that children's sociometric ratings became increasingly negative, especially for cross-sex peers; the frequency of cross-sex contacts decreased; and four-year olds spent more time in large groups than three- and…

Studies 174 mother-infant dyads to determine the relation between 3-month-old infant, mother, and mother-infant interaction behavior and later attachment behavior. Individual infant differences in sociability at 3 months were found to be related to avoidant behavior and A-type attachment. (RJC)

Examined multiple measures of 82 young children's emotionality, regulation, and social functioning over a 2-year period, finding that social functioning was predicted by low negative emotionality and high levels of regulation. Also found that vagal tone was positively related to competent social functioning and emotionality/regulation for boys,…