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A pilot study was conducted with three 8th grade boy and three 8th grade girls to understand their interpretation of the existence of peer groups and their belonging to a specific peer group. The study also attempted to determine whether boys and girls differ in their perceptions of social relationships in school. A literature review was conducted on feminist literature about the relational psychology of adolescent girls; masculinity and boys' peer culture; gender differences in adolescent peer friendship; and adolescent interpersonal competencies as described in developmental psychology. From cross-case conclusions, boys and girls clearly demonstrated different patterns in their perceptions of peer relationships in groups. As for the meaning of being in a peer group, boys and girls differed in that the girls were more concerned about fitting into the group. Both the literature review and pilot study suggested that adolescent boys and girls have different perceptions of peer groups. Boys stated that the group is what they do together. For girls, it is whether they are popular or well-liked. Girls feel more connected and dependent on groups. The importance of qualitative research was stressed in order to help adolescents who have problems with the meaning of peer groups in their lives. (Contains 51 references.) (JDM)

Research on popularity during childhood and early adolescence suggests that children who are perceived as popular by peers are not necessarily the same children who are sociometrically popular. This study extended previous research on popularity by examining children's perceptions of popularity. The study used open-ended questions instead of peer nomination only and also examined gender and differences. Participating was an ethnically diverse sample of 92 children in the fourth through eighth grades. Subjects were asked to provide free descriptions of four types of peers: popular boys; popular girls; unpopular boys; and unpopular girls. Their responses were coded for content and valence. Stepwise discriminant function analyses were conducted to determine how well children's answers discriminated among the four types of peers. Repeated measures analyses of variance were performed with participant age, gender, and status as between-subject factors. The findings indicated that popular targets were described most frequently as physically attractive and socially competent, while unpopular targets were described primarily in terms of physical unattractiveness, infrequent social interaction, and deviance. Girls tended to hold more negative stereotypes than boys did, especially regarding popular girls, and older children placed more emphasis on physical appearance than did younger children. (KB)

Despite abundant research relating physical attractiveness and social skill, no studies have systematically assessed the influence of social behavior on perceived attractiveness. This study experimentally investigated how exposure to positive, negative, and neutral childhood behaviors influences ratings of physical attractiveness and other social judgments known to co-exist within the attractiveness stereotype. The study further examined whether social behavior might moderate the effects of attractive or unattractive appearance over time. Participating were 111 Caucasian and 64 Non-Caucasian fourth- and fifth-grade girls, randomly assigned to rate the attractiveness, intelligence, popularity, and likability of either a facially attractive or an unattractive stimulus girl shown in a video still photograph. Participants were then randomly assigned to view the same stimulus girl in a series of 10 videotaped vignettes in which she interacted with a peer in either a positive, negative, or neutral manner. After viewing the videos, subjects completed the rating a second time. The results indicated that attractiveness was highly correlated with judgments of intelligence, popularity, and likability based on photographs prior to exposure to behavior, with correlations ranging from .59 to .77. Further, behavior was a strongly moderating factor in peer judgments. Positive behavior increased and negative behavior decreased ratings of attractiveness and other social judgments regardless of the attractiveness level of the stimulus girl. Neutral behavior frequently had a positive effect on attractiveness ratings and social judgments for the unattractive stimulus girl. (Contains 11 references.) (Author/KB)

This longitudinal study examined the associations between awareness of liking by peers and sociometric status to children's sociometric decisions and dyadic friendship choices. Subjects, 155 children in grades 1, 2 and 3, completed traditional sociometric nominations and sociometric ratings, and were asked to evaluate the nominations and ratings they believed they had received. Three years later, when the children were in grades 4, 5, and 6, they again completed sociometric tests. Awareness of liking at grades 1-3 was positively related to peer assessed social competence in grades 1-3 and grades 4-6. In addition, among sociometrically rejected children, those whose social status changed at grades 4-6 had higher awareness of liking scores in grades 1-3 than those rejected children who remained rejected. (JPB)

This study investigated African American adolescents' achievement values. One hundred and forty-six male and 161 female African American sixth graders at a middle school in the Los Angeles (California) area nominated classmates according to 3 criteria: those whom they most admired, respected, and wanted to be like. These nominations were combined to create a "value" index. In addition, students nominated classmates who worked hard, "goofed off," followed school rules, and did not follow school rules. Teachers rated each participating student's academic achievement on a nine-point scale. There were gender differences. Girls "valued" high-achieving girls more than medium and low-achieving girls. Boys, on the other hand, valued low and medium achieving boys more than high-achieving boys. This study begins to address the lack of research on achievement values, particularly among African American adolescents. (Contains one table, three figures, and six references.) (Author/SLD)

Although inquiries into social status have enjoyed increasing popularity in the literature, peer nomination techniques reveal little about the determinants of social preference. This study examined the relationship between two sociometric measures in predicting five categories of social status: (1) Popular; (2) Neglected; (3) Rejected; (4) Controversial; and (5) Average. The study's purpose was to determine whether broad-band peer behavior ratings might provide further information on factors influencing social status. The two measures used were the Pupil Evaluation Inventory (PEI) and the Peer Nomination Technique (PNT). The PEI assesses aggression, withdrawal, and likability while the PNT asks to students to assign their peers to one of the five social status categories listed above. A total of 223 5th- and 6th-grade students in 5 elementary schools participated. Behavior ratings results from the PEI provided a moderate predictor of Social Preference as indicated by the PNT. Although the relationships between the PEI and the PNT were found to be moderate, three conclusions could be drawn: (1) the convergence of detailed behavior ratings on more global nominations of likes and dislikes can reveal information on these determinants; (2) the continued use of the PEI is supported by the results; and (3) research into peer ratings, in general, merit further attention. Three tables presenting statistical analysis are appended. (RJM)

A study investigated the relationship between children's communication competence and perceptions of communication abilities, academic performance, and social status. Subjects were 36 children in fifth and sixth grades. The subjects completed a 30-item questionnaire on perceptions of themselves and their classmates along 3 factors: academic achievement, communication skills, and popularity. To measure actual communication ability, a discourse analysis was made of each child's spontaneous speech from tape-recorded discussions with peers. Correlations indicate that conversational ability was quite unrelated to either peers' or self ratings for either age group. In the discourse analysis, talking time and number of turns did not always discriminate between "good" and "poor" talkers. Results suggest that children tend to relate popularity, academic ability, and communicative skill, but these perceptions are not related to measured pragmatic skills. The questions used in the complete questionnaire and the Discourse Analysis (adapted from Damico) are appended. (HTH)

This study applied computer-assisted instruction (CAI) techniques to improve peer acceptance among 92 mainstreamed students with mild disabilities from 10 to 13 years of age. Participants in the treatment group received their generalized curriculum program (including mathematics, language arts, reading, health, social studies, and science) supplemented with CAI consisting of drill/practice and games for the reinforcement of reading and mathematics. This instruction was offered for 20 minutes daily for 5 weeks. Control group students received the same curriculum without CAI. Experimental group subjects reported positive self-esteem effects from CAI use when asked to complete an open-ended survey. Each participating student and 760 of their classmates were provided with a social acceptance scale and instructed to rate all members of the class for an overall peer acceptance score. Results found no significant difference between peer acceptance ratings of experimental and control group subjects. Suggestions for further research on interventions to improve peer acceptance among mainstreamed students with disabilities are provided, as is speculation as to why this particular CAI intervention failed to significantly improve peer acceptance. (Contains 19 references.) (PB)

This study compared the social status and self-esteem of 8 third grade children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, 2 children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) alone, and 26 children without the disorders, in light of hypothesized effects of perceived negative feedback received by these children from peers. The children nominated their three most-liked and least-liked friends and filled out the Coopersmith Self-Esteem inventory which measures feelings in the home, school, and social domains. Results showed no significant differences between the groups for social status or self-esteem. The only social status variable having a significant effect on self-esteem was positive nominations. Findings suggest that some children with ADHD may focus more on positive nominations than negative nominations, which could relate to their inability to read social cues given when they act in negative ways. (Contains 27 references.) (DB)

A study was conducted to test the effects of early consistent rejection by peers in early elementary school on children's social and emotional adjustment at the end of elementary school. The study used data from a longitudinal study conducted in the Netherlands between 1986 and 1991. In 1986, a total of 231 kindergarten and first-grade boys from 37 elementary schools were contacted. For the second contact in 1987, a total of 99 percent of the original sample was still participating, and 80 percent participated in the final contact 4 years later. Study measures included sociometric screening to determine whether the boys were rejected, popular, neglected, controversial, or average. Also included were various assessments of the boys' social and emotional adjustment; a questionnaire to assess bullying and victimization problems; and a depression scale for children. It was found that boys who were consistently rejected in early elementary school were more likely than other boys to become victims of other children's aggression; to develop feelings of loneliness; and to show signs of depression. Consistent rejection also predicted less prosocial behavior and more behavior indicative of withdrawal and bullying. The effects of rejection were found even when earlier aggression and shyness were controlled for. Loneliness could be predicted from depression, concurrent rejection, and earlier depression. Early consistent rejection appears to be a risk factor for the development of internalizing disorder. Implications of the research and recommendations for further study are included. (Nine tables/figures are attached.) (AC)

Children in grades one through six evaluated same-sex classmates in terms of sociometric nominations (three children you "like best") and sociometric ratings (a six-point scale ranging from "like very much" to "like very little"). In addition, each child performed a recursive version of each of the tasks (i.e., "Who do you think nominated you?"; "What rating do you think that each classmate gave you?"). Based on peer nominations and ratings, children were grouped into five social status categories: popular, average, neglected, controversial, and rejected. Significant main effects of status were found when actual and expected nominations and ratings were compared. Both ratings and nominations were underestimated by popular children, accurately estimated by average children, and overestimated by rejected children. Neglected children were accurate in their perceptions of peer ratings but not nominations, whereas controversial children were more accurate on nominations than ratings. Fifth and sixth grade girls were significantly more accurate than any other group, according to results of a signal detection analysis of the nomination data. Rejected boys were significantly less accurate than any other group. It is concluded that social status was related to social recursive thinking ability, and this relationship was the clearest among subjects in the extreme sociometric groups. (Author/RH)

This study observed changes in patterns of friendship preference of three- and four-year-old children in mainstreamed preschool classes over the course of a school year. Sociometric assessments were obtained from the nonhandicapped children three times during the school year. At the beginning of the school year, three-year-old children did not use gender or disability in identifying the peers they liked to play with. The only statistically significant changes which occurred in the three-year-olds' sociometric ratings was a general decline in rating scores for all groups of children over the course of the school year. Four-year-old children preferred their same-sex and nonhandicapped peers as playmates in a relatively stable pattern throughout the school year. Children with disabilities and opposite-sex children received lower sociometric ratings in the four-year-old class in each assessment. A list of nine reference items is provided. (BC)

This study examined children's popularity with peers and the emotional cues that were observed during parent-child interactions. Twenty-eight 4- and 5-year-olds were observed in their preschool classroom and categorized as popular or rejected. The children then participated in a two-person game with each of their parents. The play was videotaped, and facial and vocal cues were coded into 14 emotional and interactional categories. The total number of seconds that each participant displayed the cue in each category was tallied for mothers, fathers, and children. Tallies showed that parents of rejected children displayed more anger and neutral cues than other parents. Parents of popular children displayed more affective instruction cues and apologetic cues. Rejected children showed more neutral cues, and popular children more happy and laughing cues. Anger cues of rejected children correlated to a greater degree with the anger cues of their fathers than with the anger cues of their mothers. (ME)

This document reports findings of two studies on relations between: (1) adolescents' peer relationships and their self-esteem; and (2) adolescents' social status and friendships. Participating in the first study were nearly 300 seventh- and eighth-graders who completed Harter's (1985) Self-Perception Profile for Children. This measure includes subscales for students' perceptions of their self-worth, social acceptance, and other aspects of their appearance and accomplishments. Subjects also reported on features of their friendships with up to three close friends. Over 300 children from the fifth, eighth, and eleventh grades participated in the second study. These students completed the tasks performed by subjects in the first study and also rated their liking for same-sex, same-grade classmates. On the basis of the peer ratings, students were judged as higher in either popularity or rejection. Findings indicated that friendship and social status are distinct facets of peer relationship. Peers' influence on classmates' sense of self is especially salient in the junior high years. Supplementary data showed that students' academic achievement, achievement motivation, and classroom behavior were only weakly related to their perceived social acceptance, social status, and friendships. (RH)

This study examined the relationship among peer status, family status, and self-concept of 184 kindergarten children from 10 classes in a mid-sized mid-south city. Self-concept data was collected using the Woolner Preschool Self-Concept Picture Test, and popularity data was collected using a peer-nomination procedure. Teachers provided information on family structure, with four structures identified for the study: child residing with both parents; child residing with one birth parent; child residing with one birth parent and one step-parent; and other types. Analysis showed that all four family types were found within the sample, although more than half of the children lived with both birth parents. No differences were found in self-concept score by sex, nor were there differences in peer popularity by sex. Informal analysis revealed no relationship between low self-concept and isolate peer status, and no relationship between children of divorced parents and isolate status. (MM)

Individual characteristics and peer group membership type in 7th grade was examined in relation to school dropout. Peer group type was characterized according to the proportion of group members who were high on teacher-rated aggression and popularity. Both aggressive and popular group types were linked to dropping out. (Contains 43 references and 5 tables.) (GCP)

Investigates perceived popularity and teacher preference in a sample of 351 10th-graders. Analyses revealed that different behaviors were associated with perceived popularity and teacher preference. Low GPA, low submissiveness, and high rates of absenteeism were associated with high perceived popularity and a low perceived teacher preference. Snobbishness and prosociality were more strongly associated with perceived popularity than perceived teacher preference. (Contains 55 references and 5 tables.) (GCP)