Social psychological investigations of hierarchy formation have been almost entirely confined to the case of task-oriented groups and hence have produced theories that turn on the existence of such a task. But other forms of vertical hierarchy may emerge in non-task groups. One form, orderings of dominance, has been studied among animals using…

The current study examined the best friendships of aggressive and nonaggressive boys (N=96 boys, 48 dyads, mean age=10.6 years). Friends completed self-report measures of friendship quality, and their interactions were observed in situations that required conflict management and provided opportunities for rule-breaking behavior. Although there…

Background: Children with language impairment (LI) experience social difficulties, including conflict management. This paper is therefore motivated to examine behavioural processes guiding preschool peer conflict progression, which ultimately contributes to overall development. Aims: To describe behavioural sequences in conflicts between children…

Study supported by Research Grant M-3209 from the National Institute of Mental Health

Family functioning of 411 incarcerated male juvenile delinquents (aged 12-16 years) was studied using the Family Environmental Scale. A typology of family social environments was developed using cluster analysis. Delinquents with the most serious behavioral difficulties come from family environments with few strengths and openly expressed conflict…

One hundred forty-six young adolescents and 166 young adults completed questionnaires assessing the appraisal of efforts to cope with 3 common stressful events--conflicts with mother and friend and failure. Significant correlations were found between appraisal and coping, and results suggest that coping is multiply determined. (SLD)