The goal of this study was to determine whether peer social competence (SC), defined as the capacity to use behavioral, cognitive, and emotional resources in the service of achieving personal goals within preschool peer groups, was related to the type of affiliative subgroups to which children belonged. Two hundred forty Portuguese preschool…

This study examines the temporal stability (over 3 years) of individual differences in 3 domains relevant to preschool children's social competence: social engagement/motivation, profiles of behavior and personality attributes characteristic of socially competent young children, and peer acceptance. Each domain was measured with multiple…

We tested whether parents can reduce affiliation with delinquent peers through 3 forms of peer management: soliciting information, monitoring rules, and communicating disapproval of peers. We examined whether peer management interrupted 2 peer processes: selection and influence of delinquent peers. Adolescents' feelings of being overcontrolled by…

A performance-based measure of peer influence susceptibility was examined as a moderator of the longitudinal association between peer norms and trajectories of adolescents' number of sexual intercourse partners. Seventy-one 9th grade adolescents (52% female) participated in an experimental "chat room" paradigm involving…

This study examined the dynamics of popularity in adolescent friendship networks across 3 years in middle school. Longitudinal social network modeling was used to identify selection and influence in the similarity of popularity among friends. It was argued that lower status adolescents strive to enhance their status through befriending higher…

In this study, the authors examined the relations of Indonesian adolescents' socioemotional functioning to their majority-minority status and the presence of cross-religion friendships and whether sex moderated these relations. At Time 1, 1,254 7th graders and their peers in Bandung, Indonesia, reported on their friendships, prosocial behavior,…

This study examined online communication on social networking web pages in a longitudinal sample of 92 youths (39 male, 53 female). Participants' social and behavioral adjustment was assessed when they were ages 13-14 years and again at ages 20-22 years. At ages 20-22 years, participants' social networking website use and indicators of friendship…

Discussed is the assessment of sociometric and observational measures of peer popularity and communicative egocentrism for 60 white, middle-class female preschoolers. Results indicate that communicative egocentrism was significantly related to the observational measure of peer popularity but not significantly related to the sociometric measure.…

Examined the test-retest reliability of a rating-scale sociometric technique with four-year-old children. Results showed test-retest reliability over a four-week interval was high compared to the stability of the traditional positive and negative nomination scores. (JMB)

Assessed teachers' ratings of social behavior and peers' ratings of likability for 43 preschoolers over a 10-month period. Among preschoolers, those who were friendlier, more cooperative, less aggressive, and less difficult were more well liked. Later likability was predicted by earlier likability, not by prosocial behavior. (BC)

Examines the immediate and long term effects of sociometric testing on preschool children's peer interactions. Positive and negative nomination as well as rating-scale sociometric measures were administered individually to children from two preschool classrooms, and behavioral observations of peer interactions were conducted before, after, and…

Suggests that a positive and negative nomination sociometric has no negative effects on school-age children's social interactions or reports of negative mood state or loneliness. Results of a debriefing questionnaire were generally consistent with previous reports that children enjoy participating in studies involving sociometrics. (RH)

Administered Revised Class Play to Italian children to explore cross-cultural differences from North American studies on social reputation. Administered sociometric nominations to examine association between social reputation and peer acceptance-rejection. Found that original Leadership-Sociability factor was split into separate dimensions. Also…

Evaluates a method of identifying rejected elementary school children that involves the use of positive-nomination and rating scale measures. Shows rejected children can be identified with reasonable accuracy without administering a negative-nomination measure. (HOD)

A total of 881 third through fifth graders completed sociometric measures of acceptance and friendship, a measure of loneliness, a questionnaire on their best friends, and a measure of friendship satisfaction. Results indicated that, although many low-accepted children had satisfying friendships, they were less satisfying than the friendships of…