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We tested the hypothesis that early adolescents' (N = 951) knowledge of who bullies whom is differentially distributed across peers. Knowledge of bullying was assessed by asking middle school students to nominate grademates who bullied or were bullied using physical or relational means. We hypothesized that peers who were closer to bullies and victims in the grade-level friendship network, such as bullies, victims, their friends, and socially central youth, would be more knowledgeable than would peers who were socially distant. Findings revealed that approximately half of the adolescents were able to identify bullies and victims, and those who were most able to do so were socially closer, particularly victims and their friends. Bullies and their friends were less likely to name peers as bullies or victims.

This study assessed the similarity of adolescents and their friends and peer network associates in religiosity and the extent to which these relationships were associated with antisocial behavior. The sample included 1010 Indonesian (480 male, 530 female) 8th (13.37 years) and 10th grade (15.36 years) students. Adolescents were similar to their mutual friends and network associates (identified using Social Cognitive Mapping) in religiosity, and the religiosity of both friends and network associates added to male adolescents' self-religiosity in predicting antisocial behavior; these effects were not present for girls. Peers may associate with others similar to themselves in religiosity and these associations may partially explain why religious boys exhibit low levels of aggressive behavior. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

The present study addresses the influence that group norms exert on individual aggressive and prosocial behavior. The study hypothesis is that for early adolescents who change their peer group affiliations, the characteristics of the group they are leaving (departing-group influence) are not as influential as those of the group that they are joining (attracting-group influence). From a larger sample of fifth and sixth graders who were followed over a one-year period, 198 early adolescents were identified as those who changed peer group affiliations. Peer nominations on aggression, prosociality, social preference and popularity, and social network information were collected. Results confirmed that there were significant attracting- but not departing-group influences on aggression and prosociality. Expected associations between aggression, prosocial behavior, and social status were confirmed. The discussion is framed around a social-ecological perspective that emphasizes the short-term adaptive nature of aggressive behavior in some peer groups and the need for considering social mobility when assessing group influence on individual behavior.

Teachers and students in 39 1st, 3rd and 5th grade classrooms participated in a study of teaching practices and classroom peer networks. Teachers reported on their attitudes towards aggression and withdrawal, provided rationales for their seating arrangements, and were observed on patterns of emotional and instructional support and classroom organization. Students were surveyed or interviewed for peer nominations of friendship, popularity, being cool, and aggressive and prosocial behavior, and from these nominations classroom-level indices were derived concerning the richness of positive and negative social ties among children, the egalitarian or hierarchical nature of social status hierarchies, and classroom norms for aggressive and prosocial behavior. Preliminary results suggest that teachers' attitudes towards social behavior are associated with the degree of liking and disliking their students express; teachers' grouping patterns are associated with numerous features of classroom social networks; and teachers' observed emotional support was associated with higher rates of friendship reciprocation. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

This study investigated the independent and interacting effects of classroom-level embeddedness (i.e., hierarchical vs. egalitarian) and classroom density on the perceived popularity and social preference of aggressive and victimized 3rd-4th grade students (N = 881). A cohesive blocking procedure was used to compute embeddedness. Multilevel analyses indicated that aggressive children achieved much higher perceived popularity in hierarchical classrooms with high density. While children with high victimization scores were unpopular across classrooms, they were least unpopular in egalitarian classrooms with high density. Furthermore, aggressive children were more disliked in low-density classrooms, and victimized children were more disliked in hierarchical classrooms. Implications for educational management of classroom social structures are discussed. (Contains 1 table and 5 figures.)

This study compares three variations in how researchers construct middle childhood social networks: (1) with "friendships" or "affiliations" as a relational tie; (2) with children providing "self reports" of relationships, or in addition, "multi-informant reports" of relationships in which they are not involved; and (3) whether network computation is "correlational" or "distance-based." The sample was 357 fourth- and fifth-grade students in 17 classrooms. The strongest differences were between self-reported friendship and affiliative networks. Results showed that compared with affiliations, friendship networks had smaller groups, more isolates, and lower fall-to-spring stability. Agreement in social placement between friendship and affiliative networks was generally average, but poor for unpopular and aggressive children. Multi-informant affiliative networks were most robust in their positioning of aggressive children. Multi-informant centrality was uniquely uncorrelated with aggression. Network computation differences were not substantial. Discussion focuses on recommendations for research and the educational promise of network technology.

In this article, the authors use social network analysis and multilevel modeling to examine a central feature of classroom social organization: the ethnic composition of the classroom. They examine classroom ethnic composition as it relates to patterns of social integration between African American and European American children. They asked whether the social integration patterns of black and white students vary according to whether their classroom has a clear ethnic majority and, if so, whether the numerically preponderant group is African American or European American. They hypothesized that integration patterns within majority black and majority white classrooms would depend on children's status as a numerical majority or minority in the classroom and also on minority status in the macrosystemic culture. As such, a white student in a majority black classroom should have different integration patterns from a black student in a majority white classroom. (Contains 4 tables and 5 figures.)

Examined the nominations that elementary students with mild disabilities made for peers they perceived as cool. The total sample was comprised of 948 students (496 girls, 452 boys) from the metropolitan Chicago area and North Carolina and included 107 (11.3%) students with mild disabilities. Overall, students with mild disabilities nominated prosocial and athletic peers who affiliate with students with mild disabilities. However, aggressive boys who are central in the social network were highly likely to view aggressive peers as cool. Results are discussed in relation to implications for social interventions for students with mild disabilities.

This study examines interpersonal competence configurations in relation to students' concurrent behavior problems and social risks for later adjustment difficulties. Participants are 648 (345 girls, 303 boys) fourth-grade students (65% White, 6.9% African American, 19.5% Hispanic, 4.6% Asian, and 4.0% Other) from the suburbs of a major Midwestern city. Competence and risk configurations are identified using cluster analytic procedsures with teacher ratings of interpersonal competence. Four distinct risk configurations are identified: Multi-Risk, Tough, Unengaged (boys); and Low-Academic (girls). These configurations are differentially related to the subscales and total problem scores on the Teacher Report Form and to social adjustment variables that have been shown to be linked to poor outcomes in adolescence. Implications for intervention development and future research needs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore relations between social network centrality and behavioral characteristics. Elementary school students nominated classmates for aggressivity, disruptiveness, popularity, studiousness, leadership, cooperativeness, athleticism, and shyness. Students had 1 of 4 levels of network centrality (i.e., nuclear, secondary, peripheral, isolated) and were in 1 of 4 educational classifications (i.e., academically gifted, emotionally and behaviorally disordered, general education, learning disabled). Across educational classifications for both boys and girls, nuclear students were athletic, cooperative, leaders, popular, and studious relative to lower centrality students. However, antisocial characteristics were associated with lower centrality for girls only. Aggressive behavior was positively associated with nuclear centrality for general education boys. Findings are considered in relation to sociometric status research and implications of the role of social network centrality in the establishment and maintenance of antisocial behavior are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]