In this commentary on the "Multiple Meanings of Peer Groups in Social Cognitive Mapping," Thomas W. Farmer and Hongling Xie discuss core issues in the identification of peer social groups in natural settings using the social cognitive mapping (SCM) procedures. Farmer and Xie applaud the authors for their efforts to advance the study of…

The current study examined relations among child temperament, peer interaction, and theory of mind (ToM) development. We hypothesized that: (1) children classified as behaviorally inhibited at 24 months would show less ToM understanding at 36 months in comparison to nonbehaviorally inhibited children; (2) children who displayed negative peer…

Five hundred five children (267 female) enrolled in school years 5 and 6 in the UK (M = 9 years and 9 months) completed measures of trust beliefs in peers, best friendships, ascriptions of trustworthiness, and trustworthiness toward peers. Children's social disengagement, peer preference, and peer victimization were assessed by sociometric…

Bistrategic resource control entails using both coercive and prosocial strategies in competition for resources. The present study sought to clarify whether bistrategic involves more than simply using both strategies some of the time. Examining 88 preschoolers' coercion and prosociality over an entire school year, results showed that coercive…

This study investigated the relations among shyness, physiological dysregulation, and maternal emotion socialization in predicting children's social behavior with peers during the kindergarten year (N = 66; 29 girls). For shy children, interactions with peers represent potential stressors that can elicit negative emotion and physiological…

The purpose of the current study was to test a conceptual model of the mediated and moderated associations among shyness, coping strategies, and socioemotional functioning in middle childhood. Participants were 358 children (177 boys) aged 9-13 years (M = 10.16 years, SD = 0.95). Children completed self-report assessments of shyness, coping style…

Peer interaction is an important component of children's social repertoires that is associated with a variety of developmental outcomes and life skills. The present study provides an in-depth study of early dyadic peer behaviors during the infancy period, during which social competence with peers is first being developed. Results from…

This study examined subtypes of nonsocial play and their relation to psychosocial adjustment in Malaysian preschool children (N = 141, 72 boys, M age = 4.65 years). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a three-factor model that distinguished social reticence, solitary-active play, and solitary-passive play fit the data reasonably well, and…

Increasingly, theorists have suggested that social competence is an evaluative construct that will vary as a function of who is judging behavior. This study examined how two key groups in children's social environments--peers (N = 663, age range = 10.83-15.25 years) and teachers (N = 49)--rated the effectiveness of different behaviors generated by…

The impact of children's clique membership on their peer nominations for social behaviors and status was examined in a sample of 455 third- through fifth-grade children. Social identity theory (SIT) and children's peer group affiliation and context served as primary conceptual frameworks for this investigation. As suggested by SIT, results…

The present study examined whether adolescent loneliness would be lower within the context of positive relationships with peers. The core conceptual model predicted that hypothesized links between peer-rated social behaviors or victimization and loneliness would be mediated by social acceptance. Relationship experiences (i.e., social acceptance,…

Current theorists stress the context-specificity of social behaviors and social cognitions. Although researchers have started to investigate the relationship as one context that might influence social cognitions, relatively little is known about the influence of relational context on the social goals endorsed by children and adolescents. The…

The purpose of the study was to examine the contributions of maternal encouragement of autonomy and maternal encouragement of connectedness to the prediction of children's social behaviors. A sample of children (N = 94), initially aged two years, and their mothers in China participated in the two-year longitudinal study. Child autonomy and…

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…

Notes that Juvonen and Graham's edited work brings together perspectives on peer harassment from eight different countries in articles ranging from a focus on the individual as victim or bully to group processes that support peer harassment in school, and theoretical perspectives. Considers the book valuable for scholars interested in peer…