One of the most important tasks of childhood is to develop and maintain socially competent relationships with peers. Some children are easily accepted and liked by their peers, while other children experience problems in their relationship with peers and are rejected by the peer group. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the factors…

This booklet contains five essays designed to help parents raise confident, competent daughters. They focus on ways that parents can help their preadolescent and adolescent daughters: (1) speak up in class, articulate their thoughts, and speak with self-confidence in various academic and social situations; (2) develop an interest and aptitude for…

A study examined the differences in what boys and girls choose, or are free to choose, to do on the playground during recess. Given the apparent problem that boys dominate the playground area, leaving girls on the perimeter, it was hypothesized that girls engage in passive, non-competitive, small group activities, whereas boys engage in…

Sixty children in first, third, and sixth grades at one K-6 elementary school took part in a study of: (1) their awareness of the consequences of positive and negative interpersonal interactions; and (2) their awareness of the consequences of interpersonal interactions across intrapersonal dimensions such as motivation, performance, and…

The Collaborative Education Project's goal was to assess the effectiveness of collaborative problem solving (CPS) by peer advocates for enhancing the integration of students with severe disabilities into regular early education contexts. The CPS strategy gives some responsibility to nondisabled students for the planning and design of activities…

Children's relationships with their peers become more intimate as they grow older, with girls tending to experience intimacy in their friendships at an earlier age than their male counterparts. The size, friendship composition, and activity of elementary school children's play groups were recorded in an attempt to identify probable environmental…

This study investigated the impact of different types of parental support on children's social integration in peer relationships in middle childhood. Subjects were 116 second- through fifth-grade children from an inner-city primary school in Berlin (West), who were interviewed about their friends. Sociometric tests were also conducted. The parents…

This study applied a schema-based, social information processing model to examine the development of social cognitive aspects of preschoolers' racial stereotyping and stereotype beliefs (i.e., preschoolers' race schemas). The study examined developmental and individual differences in preschoolers' race schematization (salience of the race…

A practical guide is presented to peer tutoring for teachers and others with an interest in promoting cooperative learning. It includes a guide to organizing peer tutoring, as well as a review of research on the effects of peer tutoring, and evidence for social and academic gains for the student and the tutor. The perspective is international,…

The Kids in Dispute Settlement mediation program for grades 3 through 12 recognizes that conflicts are a part of everyone's life and that students can responsibly and constructively solve their own conflicts. Mediation uses the help of a third party to facilitate the conflict resolution process by working out differences non-judgementally. Student…

This report presents the results of the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment's (OREA) evaluation of the implementation of the first year (1991-1992) of Project STOP (Schools Teaching Options for Peace), a comprehensive conflict resolution and peer mediation program for middle schools in the New York City Public Schools. It describes…

This study examined the relationship between the security of children's attachment relationships to parents and teachers and how children negotiate and manage conflicts. Sixty-six preschool-aged children participated in story completion tasks regarding their attachment relationship with parents and teachers, and in hypothetical situations…

This paper addresses the prevalence and identification of social skills deficits in students with learning disabilities. It begins by discussing the definition of learning disabilities and then reviews literature on the social difficulties of this population. Findings indicate that approximately 75 percent of children with learning disabilities…

Sex role stereotyping can lead to sexual harassment, even in elementary school. This activity kit is designed to help elementary school students understand the link between sex role stereotyping and sexual harassment, to educate students about the harmful effects of sex role stereotyping and sexual harassment, and to provide students with the…

Project Da Da Kidogo is an innovative and culturally specific program based on the African proverb "It takes an entire village to raise a child." The program provides a wide range of services to meet the academic, social, cultural, and recreational needs of the young African American women in the community. The program focuses on peer…