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Social network analysis (SNA) is a highly flexible research method that allows for novel exploration of a wide variety of research phenomena. Evidence from fields as disparate as public health, education, informatics, sociology, and medicine has demonstrated the importance of recognizing the complexity inherent in individuals' connections with others. In this article, we provide a brief conceptual overview of social network theory and methodology, and then demonstrate how to apply SNA to an applied psychological research context studying students embedded in classrooms. We also provide numerous supporting materials on our OSF page, including R code for all analyses, a dataset containing social network data, and a glossary of key terms in social network analysis. We conclude with a set of recommendations for researchers interested in applying SNA to their own contexts and content areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research predominantly focuses on problematic behaviors in children with symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to explain why they are disliked by their classroom peers. By contrast, the current study explores characteristics of peers that are associated with them disliking classmates with ADHD symptoms. To do so, we undertook a novel methodological approach using hierarchical linear modeling to examine the strength of the association between child characteristics, their sociometric ratings given to classmates, and the recipients' ADHD symptom levels. Participants were 194 children (Grades K–4) in 12 classrooms. Using the sociometric method, children rated their liking versus disliking of each classmate. Children's ADHD symptoms were reported by the teacher. Children's self-reported stigma about ADHD, their own sociometric ratings received, and teacher ratings of children's academic competence were collected. Results suggested that children who reported more stigma about ADHD, and who were more socially and academically competent, had a stronger negative association between the sociometric ratings they gave and the recipients' ADHD symptoms (i.e., were more likely to dislike classmates with ADHD symptoms). These effects were strongest at the end of the academic year relative to the beginning of the year. Implications for interventions targeting the peer group are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organization (GIO) deals with the application of the theory of functional psycho-dynamic positions by Raoul Schindler on problem-solving groups. Until now, there has been no empirical research substantiating this model and the emergence of the group positions. To do so, the relationship between the functional group positions and members' contact behavior was examined with a sociometrical approach. A study with 138 participants from 22 groups was conducted. The results clearly confirm the model and show typical contact behavior patterns for each group position. Finally, types of informal group structures were compared in regards to group performance and practical applications for agile teams and shared leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – In recent years, much has been discussed about new consumer practices based on the sharing economy. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to map out the international scientific production on sharing economy. Design/methodology/approach – The research adopted a descriptive qualitative approach. Based on a sample of 95 documents collected in the Scopus database, analyses of bibliometric and sociometric indicators were carried out, as well as content analyses were conducted to identify the main thematic categories in the field. Findings – The results show that sharing economy is an emerging topic, and of late, the research in this field has grown rapidly. The study provides a mapping of top journals and authors, works of greatest impact and of co-authorship, co-citation and bibliographic coupling networks, which evidence the low intensity of researcher’s interactions and scientific production dispersion in the field. The main subjects found in the sharing economy literature are determinants, motivations and barriers, sharing economy impacts, regulation, models and frameworks, critical approach and entrepreneurship and sharing-based new businesses. Research limitations/implications – The analyses did not take into account the timing perspective. Further research could undertake a timeline-based approach in order to present direct citation networks and to relate works according to the year when they were published. Originality/value – The study innovates by identifying the main subjects in the sharing economy literature, as well as by presenting network analysis for some bibliometric indicators, complementing previous research in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to study the scattered behaviour of the overall published output of library service quality literature. Different parameters have been taken into consideration to analyze the literature on library service quality. The bibliographical data of the total number of publications published on Library Service Quality (LSQ), during 1960–2018 were searched from the Scopus database by using the search phrases, "Library Service Quality", LibQual and LibQual+, in Title, Abstract and Keyword have been used with Boolean operator 'OR' on December 8th, 2019. The search query resulted in 290 records. The first-ever publication published in the field of library service quality was published in 1997 as reflected from the Scopus database. The data were analyzed to observe the year wise pattern of growth of output with citations per publication (CPP), most prolific countries, institutions, and authors. It also identified the distribution of citations with highly cited papers and further source titles were used to establish the linkage between research results. Analyzing authors, institutions and country of the publications, citations complete count methodology was followed. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Iran were found to be the leading contributors to the field, and the pattern of growth is undulating. The journal articles (228) were scattered among 80 source titles, and it connotes that on an average, approximately three articles were produced by each source title. Moreover, a detailed and comprehensive content analysis of all the publications of clusters formed in co-citation and bibliographic coupling networks was employed to get the in-depth knowledge of the trend in concerning literature. The present study is the first bibliometric as well as text-analysis research to assess the overall research output on service quality in the field of Libraries & Information Science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GeSec: Revista de Gestao e Secretariado is the property of Sindicato das Secretarias e Secretarios do Estado de Sao Paulo (SINSESP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this work we have enhanced the perception of a humanoid robot by integrating it with a social state estimation system. We present a user study of the humanoid Nao robot as a social mediator, comprising two sets of experiments. In the first sets of experiments, the participants rate their understanding of feedback messages delivered via the Nao robot. They also assess two modalities to deliver the feedback: audio only and audio combined with gestures. In almost all cases there is an improvement of 10% or more when audio and gesture modalities are combined to deliver feedback messages. For the second sets of experiments the sociofeedback system was integrated with the Nao robot. The participants engage in two-person scenario-based conversations while the Nao robot acts as a mediator. The sociofeedback system analyzes the conversations and provides feedback via Nao. Subsequently, the participants assess the received sociofeedback with respect to various aspects, including its content, appropriateness, and timing. Participants also evaluate their overall perception of Nao as social mediator via the Godspeed questionnaire. The results indicate that the social feedback system is able to detect the social scenario with 93.8% accuracy and that Nao can be effectively used to provide sociofeedback in discussions. The results of this paper pave the way to natural human–robot interactions for social mediators in multi-party dialog systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing a positive peer climate in the elementary school classroom is an important goal for educators. This pilot study examined if children's liking and disliking of their classroom peers are predicted by teachers' use of practices designed to address child disruptive behaviors that are off-putting to peers, and practices designed to enhance peer inclusivity. Whereas teacher practices to foster good peer relationships are useful for all students, they are particularly important for those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, as these children are often poorly regarded by classmates. Thus, we explored the moderating effect of child ADHD symptom status. Participants were 194 children (grades K-4) in the classrooms of 12 teachers. The teachers were helping our study team revise the Making Socially Accepting Inclusive Classrooms (MOSAIC) program for use in general education classrooms. The MOSAIC program contains a set of teacher strategies to encourage students' increased liking and decreased disliking of one another, which was measured by sociometric ratings. Teachers' use of MOSAIC strategies was observed and self-reported over a school year. Results indicated that teacher practices designed to improve children's classroom behaviors, as well as practices that encouraged peers to be more inclusive, each predicted children receiving better sociometric ratings at the end of the year after accounting for ratings at the beginning of the year. Some practices appeared uniquely efficacious for children with elevated ADHD symptoms, whereas others were useful for all children but had accentuated benefits for typical children. Implications for practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The computational simulation of human intelligent behaviour has been one of the main research topics in the artificial intelligence (AI) domain. Therefore, a great number of behavioural models were proposed considering emotional, cognitive and psychological factors to simulate the human behaviour in different domains such as military or manufacturing systems. In addition to psychological factors, the social state of a group of workers plays a critical role in rational decision-making, perception, human interaction, and human intelligence. Thus, it is judicious to analyse the workers' behaviour at work and to integrate their needs and requirements in manufacturing systems models in order to improve the simulation accuracy. In this context, this paper suggests a graphical and a mathematical representation model of workers' behaviours as well as the ties that can exist among them. The model is also extended to consider inter-worker social relations that can influence the individual performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of social anxiety with self-perceived and peer-reported likability, while controlling for the possible influence of depression. In total, 586 children (7 to 13 years) completed questionnaires to measure social anxiety, self-assessed likability, and depression. Peer-reported likability was derived from sociometric data on likability. As expected, children with higher self-reported social anxiety perceived themselves as less liked by classroom peers than children with lower self-reported social anxiety. In reality, children with higher levels of social anxiety were more liked by peers than children with lower levels of social anxiety. Multilinear regression analyses indicated no confounding effect of depression: Social anxiety, but not depression, was a significant predictor of biased perceived likability. Correcting the discrepancy between objective versus subjective likability may be a crucial target in the prevention and treatment of social anxiety disorders in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable research documents that even young children possess stigma about mental illness, which may affect how they evaluate peers with mental health conditions. This study examined children’s pre-existing perceptions of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) behaviors as predictors of their subsequent sociometric judgments of classmates with ADHD in a 2-week summer day camp. Participants were previously unacquainted children ages 6.8-9.8 years (113 typically-developing and 24 with ADHD; 48.2% boys; 81% White). Children initially more inclined to interact with a hypothetical classmate with ADHD gave fewer “dislike” nominations to real-life classmates with ADHD at camp. Children who initially believed that ADHD symptoms were uncontrollable gave more “dislike” nominations and lower liking ratings to classmates with ADHD when those classmates displayed severe ADHD symptoms. For children who had ADHD, their attribution of uncontrollability for ADHD symptoms predicted fewer “like” nominations and more “dislike” nominations given to classmates with ADHD. Lastly, children who initially reported they would help a hypothetical classmate with ADHD gave higher liking ratings to classmates with ADHD. These results were found after statistical control of the actual level of ADHD behaviors displayed by the classmates with ADHD. In summary, other children’s pre-existing or stigmatizing perceptions of ADHD behaviors may contribute, in part, to the substantial peer rejection typically experienced by ADHD populations. Findings have implications for understanding peer problems in children with this common mental health condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ágora is the property of Universidade do Contestado and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper deals with the problem of early modern scientific citations. It attempts to establish a measure of scientific popularity in a specific area of the academic medicine in a way which resembles a modern evaluation of scientific activity (citation index). For this purpose an analysis of a series of plague treatises written between 1480 and 1725 in Europe was conducted. Citations for various historical medical authorities (Hippocrates, Galen, etc.) are given in Tables which reflect a long time development of popularity. The authorities from various groups (Ancient, Medieval, Arabic, Early Modern) are linked together, and “generic authorities” are explained and discussed.

Sociometric-oriented approaches have been applied the last years in numerous cases and domains, targeting at the improvement of social groups’ characteristics for achieving personal and team-based objectives. Considering the existing approaches and the published results, in the current study, a set of emotional intervention activities based on a sociometric-oriented approach were designed and implemented with the clear objective to augment social cohesion within members of a social group in primary school students. Petrides’ trait emotional model was used to identify the emotional profile of the experimental and control group members, while the set of implemented activities was based on Bisquerra’s emotional competencies model. Sociometrics were used to evaluate the initial, intermediate and final level of social cohesion of both groups. Based on the realized statistical analysis and the produced evaluation results, useful insights with regards to the social group indicators that mainly affect the social cohesion levels are extracted and presented. It should be noted that the detailed study was based on the exclusive usage of open-source Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools for supporting educational needs.

The objective in this study was to analyze the behavior and the particularities of the academic production on the theme Management Accounting published in the ISI Web of Science Core Collection from 1985 to 2014. Methodologically, this research used the bibliometric and sociometric analysis techniques. The main results were: evolution of the theme as from 2007; Accounting, Organizations and Society and Management Accounting Research, which were the journals that most published on the subject "Management Accounting"; Lukka, K. was the most prolific author; the University of Turku was the institution that stood out; and the United States of America was emphasized in the production on that theme. In relation to the co-authorship networks, their low degree density was observed, leading to a high degree centrality and betweenness. And the themes that were highlighted in this study were: education; accounting teaching and research; Cost management; Management control; strategic management; and management accounting system. It is concluded in a macro way that this study evidenced inherent and contemporary information on the subject "Management Accounting", focusing on its nuances in the behavior and particularities of its academic production, published in ISI Web of Science Core Collection from 1985 till 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Less structured school settings such as lunchrooms and playgrounds occasion more frequent instances of peer victimization than structured classroom settings (Fite et al., 2013; Vaillancourt et al., 2010) but, also provide students with the opportunity for social exchanges that can further their social development (Boulton, 1999; Low et al., 2010). We hypothesized that lunchroom-specific peer acceptance would predict children's level of peer victimization even when controlling for classroom-based social preference scores. Peers completed measures of acceptance, and children, teachers, and peers completed measures assessing peer victimization. As expected, lunchroom-specific peer acceptance differed significantly for rejected versus preferred/average children and for victims versus non-victims. Results also revealed that lunchroom-specific acceptance predicted concurrent levels of peer victimization when controlling for class-wide social preference scores. Findings suggest that children's acceptance by lunch mates is a potentially important parameter to consider when assessing or intervening with children who experience difficulties with peer relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ibero-Americana de Estratégia (RIAE) is the property of Revista Ibero-Americana de Estrategia/UNINOVE and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: Little is known regarding the predictors of social deficits that occur following childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI). The current study sought to investigate social problem solving (SPS) and its relationship to social adjustment after TBI. Methods: Participants included 8–13 year old children, 25 with severe TBI, 57 with complicated mild-to-moderate TBI and 61 with orthopaedic injuries (OI). Children responded to scenarios involving negative social situations by selecting from a fixed set of choices their causal attribution for the event, their emotional reaction to the event and how they would behave in response. Parent ratings of social behaviours and classmate friendship nominations and sociometric ratings were obtained for a sub-set of all participants. Results: Children with severe TBI were less likely than children with OI to indicate they would attribute external blame or respond by avoiding the antagonist; they were more likely to indicate they would feel sad and request adult intervention. Although several SPS variables had indirect effects on the relationship between TBI and social adjustment, clinical significance was limited. Conclusions: The findings suggest that, while children with TBI display atypical SPS skills, SPS cannot be used in isolation to accurately predict social adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Understanding influence networks among substance abuse treatment clinics may speed the diffusion of innovations. The purpose of this study was to describe influence networks in Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Washington and test two expectations, using social network analysis: (1) Social network measures can identify influential clinics; and (2) Within a network, some weakly connected clinics access out-of-network sources of innovative evidence-based practices and can spread these innovations through the network. A survey of 201 clinics in a parent study on quality improvement provided the data. Network measures and sociograms were obtained from adjacency matrixes created by UCINet. We used regression analysis to determine whether network status relates to clinics' adopting innovations. Findings suggest that influential clinics can be identified and that loosely linked clinics were likely to join the study sooner than more influential clinics but were not more likely to have improved outcomes than other organizations. Findings identify the structure of influence networks for SUD treatment organizations and have mixed results on how those structures impacted diffusion of the intervention under study. Further study is necessary to test whether use of knowledge of the network structure will have an effect on the pace and breadth of dissemination of innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Iberoamericana de Evaluación Educativa is the property of Red Iberoamericana de Investigacion sobre Cambio y Eficacia Escolar and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper offers a critique of sociometrics as a ubiquitous method of measuring social relationships among children in social groups such as school classes. This is important in relation to disability politics and research as the apparently scientific measures are frequently used in the process of labelling children or predisposing the children involved, or others involved with them, to view disabled and other children in particular ways. We open a debate about judgements concerning whether the use of sociometric techniques needs to be better informed by questions about the underpinning normalising frameworks on which they depend, about the connotations of blame associated with particular sociometric statuses, and about the way that research constructs difficulties and reflects an adult agenda, marginalising the voices of (disabled) children. We argue for the value of the transactional turn in understanding the implications of this approach and for highlighting alternative perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined peer relationships in children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) relative to children with orthopedic injuries (OI), and explored whether differences in peer relationships correlated with white matter volumes. Classroom procedures were used to elicit peer perceptions of social behavior, acceptance, and friendships for eighty-seven 8- to 13-year-old children, 15 with severe TBI, 40 with complicated mild/moderate TBI, and 32 with OI. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) were used to investigate volumetric correlates of peer relationship measures. Children with severe TBI were rated higher in rejection-victimization than children with OI, and were less likely than children with OI to have a mutual friendship in their classroom (47% vs. 88%). Children with TBI without a mutual friend were rated lower than those with a mutual friend on sociability-popularity and prosocial behavior and higher on rejection-victimization, and had lower peer acceptance ratings. Mutual friendship ratings were related to white matter volumes in several posterior brain regions, but not to overall brain atrophy. Severe TBI in children is associated with detrimental peer relationships that are related to focal volumetric reductions in white matter within regions of the brain involved in social information-processing. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–10) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research was aimed at verifying, within a longitudinal perspective (1994-2009), the role of authors in the development of Brazilian scientific production in accounting. A bibliometric and sociometric research was undertaken, in which 4,052 papers were consulted. Production and continuity categories were analyzed, classifying the authors as continuant, transient, entrant, one-timer and withdrawing. The results demonstrated the importance of continuant authors for the development, consolidation and maturing of accounting research. That is so because these authors displayed the greatest productivity in quantitative terms; intermediate the relationship with other categories, that is, they serve as agents for information from different researchers; the eight continuant authors with the highest number of publications play a central role in their networks, articulating research by different researchers; and are the main responsible for international partnerships. Despite the importance of continuants, they represent the lowest percentage among the categories. On the opposite, most of the authors identified were classified as one-timers, that is, they published a single study across the study period. This last category, in combination with entrant authors, indicate the attractiveness of the knowledge area for researchers, and can serve as the main sources of innovations and novel approaches. As regards the withdrawing authors, some degree of rotation was observed, which is natural in all research areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The OECD (2006 Starting Strong II: Early Childhood Education and Care. OECD Publishing: Paris) envisions early childhood education and care settings as meeting places for diverse social groups; places that build social capital. This vision was assessed in a comparison of three preschools types: full-fee paying, subsidised-fee and publicly funded. The social composition within each was examined and the connectedness of the children (n = 472) who attended compared. Publicly funded preschools had more socially diverse populations. The quantity of social connectedness did not differ but children in publicly funded preschools described higher quality social relationships. Not all preschool settings are socially diverse but, where they are, the quality of relationships is highest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study compared two interventions for improving the social skills of high functioning children with autism spectrum disorders in general education classrooms. One intervention involved a peer-mediated approach (PEER) and the other involved a child-assisted approach (CHILD). Method: The two interventions were crossed in a 2 × 2 factorial design yielding control, PEER, CHILD, and both PEER and CHILD conditions. Sixty children participated from 56 classrooms in 30 schools. Interventions involved 12 sessions over 6 weeks, with a 3-month follow-up. Outcome measures included self, peer and teacher reports of social skills and independent weekly observations of children on their school playground over the course of the intervention. Results: Significant improvements were found in social network salience, number of friendship nominations, teacher report of social skills in the classroom, and decreased isolation on the playground for children who received PEER interventions. Changes obtained at the end of the treatment persisted to the 3-month follow-up. Conclusions: These data suggest that significant improvements can be made in peer social connections for children with autism spectrum disorders in general education classrooms with a brief intervention, and that these gains persist over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Social rejection is associated with a wide variety of negative outcomes. Early identification of social rejection and intervention to minimize its negative impact is thus important. However, sociometric methods, which are considered high in validity for identifying socially rejected children, are frequently not used because of (a) procedural challenges, (b) community apprehension, and (c) sensitivity to missing data. In a sample of 316 students in grades K through 8, we used receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analyses to compare the diagnostic efficiency of several methods for identifying socially rejected children. When not using least-liked nominations, (a) most-liked nominations yielded the greatest diagnostic efficiency (AUC=.96), (b) peer ratings were more efficient (AUC=.84 to .99) than teacher ratings (AUC=.74 to .81), and (c) teacher report of social status was more efficient (AUC=.81) than scores from teacher behavior rating scales (AUC=.74 to .75). We also examined the effects of nominator non-participation on diagnostic efficiency. At participation as low as 50%, classification of sociometric rejection (i.e., being rejected or not rejected) was quite accurate (κ=.63 to .77). In contrast, at participation as high as 70%, classification of sociometric status (i.e., popular, average, unclassified, neglected, controversial, or rejected) was significantly less accurate (κ=.50 to .59). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Cahiers Internationaux de Psychologie Sociale is the property of Presses Universitaires de Liege and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Relaciones Internacionales is the property of Facultad de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: A series of computational models are presented which address the question of how peer relations change over time. We examine data from a standardized metric (CDC) that places school children in one of five categories: Popular, Rejected, Neglected, Controversial, and Average, and how such classifications change over time. A simple random model is shown to not match the empirical data, while a computational model and an ACT-R model are shown to match equally well, even though they are highly architecturally distinct. To test these models’ ability to give useful predictions in other domains, we introduced variation among the individuals in the models. For both models, we observed equivalent behavior that was consistent with the empirically known effects of Hostile Attribution Bias, variations in social skill, and shyness among others. This indicates that both models are capturing inherent underlying regularities of the social dynamics of peer relations in children. The relationship between these models and its implications are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Administração is the property of INSPER Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the reliability and validity of a newly developed self-report measure designed to assess children's coping strategies in response to everyday rejection experiences. The Survey for Coping with Rejection Experiences (SCORE) was administered to 225 children and factor analysis of responses resulted in the conceptually meaningful subscales of active, aggressive, denial, and ruminative coping. A subset of 95 children also completed a battery of self- (depression, social anxiety), parent- (internalizing and externalizing problems), and peer- (social preference, aggression, withdrawal) ratings of socioemotional adjustment. Children's coping strategies were meaningfully associated with adjustment measures, although these associations differed for boys and girls in several instances. Importantly, both aggressive and ruminative coping strategies were positively associated with internalizing problems even after controlling for the effect of children's actual sociometric status. In addition, denial coping emerged as a significant moderator of the relation between status and adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous research has indicated that children who stutter are more likely to be bullied and to hold a lower social position than their peers who do not stutter. However, the majority of this research has used data from respondents who were in the educational system more than 20 years ago. The current policy on integration of children with severe disabilities into mainstream education and the increased awareness of bullying in schools would indicate that attitudes toward children who stutter might have changed in the intervening period. Method: The study uses a sociometric scale (adapted from Coie, Dodge, & Coppotelli, 1982) to assess children who stutter in classroom groups with fluent peers. The peer relationships between 16 children who stutter and their classmates (403 children in total) were examined. Results: Children who stutter were rejected significantly more often than were their peers and were significantly less likely to be popular. When compared to children who do not stutter, the children who stutter were less likely to be nominated as `leaders' and were more likely to be nominated to the `bullied' and `seeks help' categories. Conclusions: The changes in integration policy and the implementation of anti-bullying policies in many schools appear to have made little impact on the social status of children who stutter. The incidence of bullying and rejection reported in this study has implications for schools and clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the longitudinal stability of sociometric classification in two groups of children aged 8 to 10 years over a 2-year period. Two simple, but sensitive and valid forced-choice sociometric measures were completed by 41 children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) and 375 mainstream children. On both occasions and on both measures (one using a 'work with' and one a 'play with' sociometric criterion) MLD pupils were significantly less likely to be classified as popular and more likely to be classified as rejected. Over the 2-year period just over half of the children, whether MLD or mainstream, were classified in the same sociometric category. However, the stability coefficients for the rejected and popular sociometric status groups were found to be higher in the included sample than in the mainstream sample. The results of this study are compared with previous longitudinal studies in the area that have focused on mainstream pupils, and implications for the use of sociometric measures in evaluating the outcomes of inclusion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There were two main aims: first, to illuminate the difference between abused children's general popularity with classmates and success in close friendships; second, to examine the specific interactional qualities of abused children's friendships and their links to loneliness. Method: Thirty-five severely abused children and 43 matched, nonabused children were compared on peer-rated sociometric status, self-reported loneliness, and observed and self-reported friendship quality. Results: Abused children were not rated significantly lower sociometrically, nor did they differ significantly from control children on several measures of friendship quality, such as resolving conflicts and helping each other. However, abused children were observed to be more negative and less proactive in their interactions. They also reported their friendships as being more conflictual, and as higher on betrayal and lower on caring. Only observational friendship variables predicted loneliness. Conclusions: The results challenge the assumption that abused children's peer relationships are uniformly more maladaptive than nonabused children's, and point to the possible benefits of structured interventions for "normalizing" their friendship interactions. The pattern of difficulties exhibited by abused children (e.g., conflict) provides foci for more specific interventions. Multi-method assessments are necessary and the multi-dimensional nature of children's social adjustment is important to understand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three conceptually distinct dimensions of classroom social position (number of mutual friendships, social network centrality, and sociometric status) were examined in relation to each other and to peer-nominated behavioral reputation among 205 7- and 8-year old children. There were moderate correlations in children's standing across the three dimensions, but categorical analyses underscored the limits to these associations (e.g., 39% of Rejected children had at least one mutual friendship; 31% of Popular children did not). Each dimension was associated with a distinct profile of peer-nominated social behavior and, in multiple regression analyses, accounted for unique variance in peer-nominated behaviors. Number of friendships was uniquely associated with prosocial skills; network centrality was uniquely associated with both prosocial and antisocial behavioral styles; and being disliked was uniquely associated with the full range of social behaviors. Results provide empirical validation for the conceptual distinctions among number of reciprocated friendships, social network centrality and being liked or disliked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study ( NO= 159) provides evidence of an increased risk for behavior problems of infant-placed 7-year-old internationally, transracially adopted children in the Netherlands. However, parents reported more behavior problems for adopted boys than for adopted girls. Notably, about 30% of the adopted children were classified as clinical on the CBCL scale for total problems, which is a much larger percentage than the 10% found in the normative population. It was suggested that these results could be explained by the operation of multiple risk factors before and after adoption placement, e.g. the child's genetic disposition, pre-natal and pre-adoption care, or the child's cognitive understanding of adoption in middle childhood. Also, results suggest that maternal sensitive responsiveness in adoptive families declines in the transition from early to middle childhood. In contrast to the home setting, the adopted children showed favorable behavioral and socioemotional adjustment at school, while their academic achievement and intelligence were in the normal range or above average. In particular Korean children had high IQs: 31% of these children obtained an intelligence score above 120. It was suggested that adoptive parents seem to offer their children sufficient or even more than average cognitive stimulation. Furthermore, adopted girls scored higher in optimal ego-control, social competence, and peer group popularity than nonadopted girls from the general population: 30% of the adopted girls were rated as popular by their classmates, which compares favorably to the 13% found in the general school population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]