The Stability of Peer Sociometric Ratings Across Ecological Settings

Although children's peer relations extend beyond the classroom, researchers have focused almost exclusively on evaluting sociometric status within the school setting. In the present study, a roster-and-rating method was used to assess the relationship between the sociometric status of 20 fifth-grade students in the classroom and in adult supervised activity groups outside of school. In addition, the 6-month stability of peer sociometric ratings in school was assessed. The correlational results showed that a child's sociometric standing in the classroom was a strong predictor of his or her standing in outside groups, and that the 6-month stability of peer sociometric ratings at school was quite high. The results are encouraging for researchers who use classroom sociometric ratings as global indices of peer relations.     

幼儿同伴关系发展的稳定性

研究采用同伴提名法,从2004年到2008年对三个自然班幼儿(71名)群体水平的同伴关系分别在三个时间点开始从小班到大班的追踪,考察学前期幼儿同伴关系连续变量的稳定性,结果发现:(1)幼儿同伴接纳、同伴拒绝、社会偏好和社会影响的稳定性受年龄和时间间隔的影响,在中班与大班之间均存在中等相关,而社会偏好和同伴接纳在小班与中班也存在中等相关,社会偏好在小班与大班也存在中等相关;(2)幼儿社会偏好发展模式经聚类分析为4组:一般偏好稳定组、高偏好稳定组、一般到高偏好变化组和低偏好变化组,64.79%的幼儿社会偏好发展保持稳定;(3)幼儿从小班起,女孩比男孩一直更少受到同伴拒绝,更多受到同伴偏爱。总体而言,学前期幼儿同伴关系发展具有中等稳定性,中班是稳定性发展的重要时期。     

Peer Sociometric Status and Personality Development from Middle Childhood to Preadolescence

Sociometric status, the regard that other group members confer to an individual, is one of the most ubiquitous and behaviourally relevant attributes assigned to the person by the social environment. Despite this, its contribution to personality development has received little attention. The present three‐wave longitudinal study, spanning the age range 7–13 years (n = 1222), sought to fill this gap by examining the transactional pathways between peer sociometric status (measured by peer nominations) and Five‐Factor personality traits (measured by self‐ratings and parent and teacher ratings). Sociometric status prospectively predicted the development of extraversion. By contrast, agreeableness and neuroticism prospectively predicted the development of sociometric status. Furthermore, individual‐level stability in extraversion was associated with individual‐level stability in sociometric status. The results were robust across different sources of personality ratings. We argue that peer sociometric status in the school classroom is the type of environmental effect that has potential to explain personality development. Because of its stability, broadness, and possible impact across a variety of personality processes, sociometric status can both repetitiously and simultaneously influence the network of multiple inter‐correlated micro‐level personality processes, potentially leading to a new network equilibrium that manifests in changes at the level of the broad personality trait. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Concurrent and longitudinal correlates of preschool peer sociometrics: Comparing rating scale and nomination measures

Nomination and rating scale measures of preschool sociometric status were compared with respect to their patterns of concurrent and longitudinal developmental correlates. The study was undertaken to help fill a void in the empirical literature on young children's peer adjustment. Subjects were 79 4–5 year-old children, currently enrolled in preschool classes. In addition to the sociometric interviews, diverse measures of children's social and cognitive competence were administered concurrently, and longitudinally one year later. These measures included teacher ratings of peer acceptance and behavior problems, and performance measures of social problem-solving ability, impulse control, and vocabulary competence. As expected, the reliability of the rating scale technique was superior to that of the nomination measures. Furthermore, all three sociometric measures had modest but meaningful patterns of concurrent and longitudinal correlates. However, the negative nomination measure was distinguished from the others by its consistent association with measures of impulsivity, and its predictive link with aggressive social problem solving. Therefore, negative peer nomination measures supply unique information about children's social functioning that should be represented in studies of children at risk for social maladjustment.     

The significance of cross-racial/ethnic friendships: associations with peer victimization, peer support, sociometric status, and classroom diversity

This short-term longitudinal study examined the associations between cross-racial/ethnic friendships and relative changes in forms of peer victimization or peer support and the roles of classroom diversity and sociometric status (i.e., social preference) in these associations. A total of 444 children (age range: 9-10 years) from racially/ethnically diverse elementary schools participated in this study. Results demonstrated that cross-racial/ethnic friendships (but not same-racial/ethnic friendships) uniquely predicted relative decreases in relational victimization. Further, classroom diversity moderated the relations of cross-racial/ethnic friendships with relative decreases in physical victimization and relative increases in peer support, such that these relations were stronger for children in highly diverse classrooms. Finally, social preference mediated the association between cross-racial/ethnic friendships and relative decreases in relational victimization. The associations among cross-racial/ethnic friendships, same-racial/ethnic friendships, social experiences with peers, and classroom diversity are discussed.     

Peer harassment in primary school: the role of peers and its relationship with sociometric status

During the last decade, there has been a change in peer harassment research from a focus on the characteristics of the Aggressor-Victim dyad to the recognition of peer harassment as a whole group process, with most of children playing some kind of role. This study uses a shortened adaptation of the Participant-Role Questionnaire approach to identify these roles in 2,050 Spanish children aged 8 to 13 years. These Participant Roles were related to belonging to one of the five sociometric status groups. Factor analysis revealed four different roles, indicating that the adapted scale remains a reliable way of distinguishing the Aggressor, Victim, Defender of the victim, and Outsider roles. Boys played the roles of Aggressor and Victim significantly more frequently. The children's Participant Role was found to be related to their sociometric status. Progress in the measurement of peer harassment as a group process and the success of intervention strategies may depend on finding clearer distinctions among the different peer roles, mobilizing peer pressure, and isolating aggressors from their social support.     

Peer‐assessed behavioural characteristics and sociometric rejection: Differences between pupils who have moderate learning difficulties and their mainstream peers

Background: The outcomes of social inclusion and skills training programmes for pupils with special educational needs have been mixed. Programmes are generally based on research with mainstream samples yet it has been suggested that the social skills important for sociometric acceptance may be different for children who have special educational needs. Aims: The study aims to compare peer‐assessed behavioural characteristics associated with sociometric status for included children who have moderate learning difficulties and their mainstream classmates. Sample: Mainstream classmates (N=867) of all the children ascertained as having Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD) and included in mainstream middle schools (8–12 years) in one English county. Subgroups of rejected mainstream (n=38) and pupils with MLD (n=32) were further investigated. Method: Discriminant function analysis was carried out with peer assessment items as predictors of sociometric status group membership in the mainstream sample and contrasted with previously reported data from pupils with MLD in the same classes. Cluster analysis was used to identify behavioural subtypes within the rejected groups drawn from each sample. For pupils with MLD subtypes were validated using teacher assessments of social behaviour. Results: Systematic differences were identified across different analyses between the peer‐assessed behavioural characteristics associated with rejected sociometric status for pupils with MLD and for mainstream pupils. Conclusions: The appropriateness of generic social skills training programmes for promoting the social inclusion of pupils with MLD should be questioned and consideration given to rejected pupil subtypes.     

Assessing children's social skills: Validation of the Behavioral Assertiveness Test for Children (BAT-C)

The present study assessed the relationship between specific child responses on the Behavioral Assertiveness Test for Children (BAT-C) and sociometric indices obtained from peers. Fourth and fifth graders completed peer nominations of their best friends and the children they most admired, peer ratings of likeability, and the BAT-C. Sociometric status was determined by classifying each child as either high or low on peer nominations and peer ratings. Examination of the effects of sociometric status as moderated by race and sex revealed several significant differences in BAT-C responses. Children who were more highly liked or were often named as best friends were significantly less compliant. Differential responding on several additional verbal categories was observed as a function of the interaction between sociometric status and race and/or sex. These findings not only demonstrate the validity of several response categories observed on the BAT-C, but also suggest that in social skills training, different component responses may be targeted across child populations.The authors wish to express their appreciation to Jean Birbilis, Candace Conley, Tony Genoff, Marieta Knopf, and Donna Wadley for their assistance in data collection and analysis.     

Children's verbalizations and cheating behavior during game playing: the role of sociometric status,aggression, and gender

The first goal of this study was to investigate sociometric status, aggression, and gender differences in children's verbalizations and cheating behavior during game playing using a fine-grained observational coding system. The second goal was to control for the effects of differential peer treatment and bias on children's behavior by observing children in a standardized procedure with unfamiliar peer confederates. Participants were 111 second-grade African American children, half average and half rejected sociometric status, half aggressive and half nonaggressive based on peer nominations, and half boys and half girls. Rejected children engaged in more cheating behavior and made more negative and argumentative verbalizations than average status children. Boys made more negative and argumentative verbalizations than girls. Aggressive children did not differ from nonaggressive children, in terms of either verbalizations or cheating behavior.     

Expecting the best: The relation between peer optimism and social competence

The present research evaluated the construct of optimism and its relation to children's social competence. An optimism questionnaire was developed that specifically assessed children's expectations with regard to their peer interactions and peer relationships. This measure demonstrated acceptable levels of internal and test–retest reliability and was consistent with a three-factor hierarchical factor structure. After removing effects attributable to grade and perceived self-competence, girls’ peer optimism was specifically and negatively associated with feelings of isolation and boys’ peer optimism was associated with a much broader range of social outcomes including higher sociometric status, more friendships, and lower levels of rejection, victimization, and loneliness. These findings highlight the importance of peer optimism for understanding children's peer relations.     

The role of attractiveness and aggression in high school popularity

This study examines the effects of physical attractiveness and aggression on popularity among high school students. Previous work has found positive relationships between aggression and popularity and physical attractiveness and popularity. The current study goes beyond this work by examining the interactive effects of physical attractiveness and aggression on popularity. Controlling for race and gender, the results indicate that attractive students are seen as more physically and relationally aggressive than those who are less attractive. We also found that those who are both physically attractive and aggressive are perceived to be more popular than those without such characteristics. However, the same interaction showed the opposite effect when predicting sociometric popularity instead of perceived popularity. These results contribute to the understanding of the differences between those who are well-liked (sociometric popularity) and those who are socially visible (perceived popularity), and the unique predictors of these two dimensions of status in the peer group.     

Sociometric Status and Social Drinking: Observations of Modelling and Persuasion in Young Adult Peer Groups

Because young adult drinking occurs primarily in peer groups, this should be taken into account when studying influences on drinking behaviour. This paper aimed to assess influences on drinking by observing existing peer groups in a naturalistic setting. We first analysed the basic levels at which two types of influence take place. The first, modelling (imitating others' drinking), was found to significantly influence individual drinking, whereas for the second one, persuasion (drinking resulting from others offering drinks), no predictions were found. Subsequently, we examined whether peer group members' sociometric status in the group affected the amount of influence and persuasion exerted and received. No indications were found that sociometric status had an impact on influence in alcohol consumption within a drinking situation. Features and weaknesses of the study are discussed.     

Comparability of peer-assessment measures: A multitrait-multimethod and selection analytic approach

This research attempted to assess the relationship among the Pupil Evaluation Inventory (PEI), sociometric nominations, and sociometric ratings in terms of (1) a multitrait-multimethod analysis, (2) selection agreement indices of extreme individuals, and (3) stability over an 8-week period. Subjects were members of four second-grade classrooms at a regional school serving a diverse population of children. While stability estimates for measures were adequate and evidence for convergent validity was reasonably good, evidence for divergent validity was weaker. Selection agreement analyses yielded highly variable results, indicating that different samples of children tend to be selected by different instruments despite the similarity in dimensions being tapped. Methodological and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.This work was based on the first author's M.S. thesis under the direction of the second author.     

Counseling with Elementary School Children: An Experimental Study

An attempt was made to assess results of counseling with fourth-grade students, using sociometric status as the criterion. A sociometric device was administered to four fourth-grade classrooms. Students of low sociometric status were randomly assigned by classrooms to one of three treatment conditions: (1) counseling, (2) teacher guidance, and (3) control. When treatment conditions were compared, the evidence seemed to indicate significant differences in the relative frequency with which subjects increased or decreased in sociometric status, that the differences favored the counseling condition, and that these differences persisted over a period of seven months. The possibility of a temporary teacher influence on the sociometric criterion was indicated.     

Aggression and social status: the moderating roles of sex and peer‐valued characteristics

Research on peer rejection has long emphasized links between aggressive behavior and peer liking, with aggressive children and adolescents being more rejected by peers. However, recent research shows that at least some aggressive students enjoy considerable power and influence and are perceived as “popular” within the peer group. To understand the processes underlying links between aggression and social status, the present research considered three distinct indices of social status (social preference, perceived popularity, and power) and investigated the degree to which the possession of peer‐valued characteristics moderated the links between status and aggression and whether these links varied by sex. A sample of 585 adolescents (grades 6–10) completed peer evaluation measures assessing social status, aggression (overt/physical, indirect/relational), and the degree to which peers possessed eight different peer‐valued characteristics (e.g., attractiveness, athleticism, etc.). Although sociometric indices of status were significantly related to perceived popularity, especially for boys, perceptions of power were more strongly linked to perceived popularity than to sociometric likeability. Moreover, the three indices of social status were differentially related to peers' assessments of aggression and to peer‐valued characteristics, with notable sex differences. As predicted, regression analyses demonstrated that the observed relationships between social status and aggression were moderated by the possession of peer‐valued characteristics; aggressive students who possessed peer‐valued characteristics enjoyed higher levels of perceived popularity and power and less disliking than those who did not. This relationship varied as a function of sex, the type of aggression considered, and the status construct predicted. Aggr. Behav. 32:396–408, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Individual and social risk factors related to overt victimization in a sample of Spanish adolescents

This study analyzes the role of adolescents' self-esteem, loneliness, sociometric status, and perceptions of family and classroom environment on overt vicitimization by peers in a sample of 1319 Spanish adolescents (48% boys and 52% girls), ages 11 to 16 years (M=13.7, SD=1.5). The findings from structural equation modeling suggest that adolescents' self-esteem, loneliness, and sociometric status had a significant direct effect on overt victimization by peers, and adolescents' perceptions of family and classroom environment had a significant indirect effect on peer overt victimization mediated by self-esteem, loneliness, and sociometric status. The findings are discussed with the consideration of these variables as individual and social risk factors for overt victimization by peers.     

Stability of aggressive behaviors and children's peer relationships

The present research longitudinally evaluated the association of group and dyadic peer relation factors to the stability of aggression. Beginning in grades 2 through 5, children (N = 212) completed peer nominations for aggressive behaviors, sociometric ratings, sociometric nominations (like most and like least), and friendship nominations for 2 successive years. Children were classified into four Stability of Aggression Groups: Never Aggressive, Stable Aggressive, Discontinued Aggression, Became Aggressive. Aggressive children were evaluated as more disliked at each time of testing (i.e., Stable Aggressive and Discontinued Aggression at Time 1; Stable Aggressive and Became Aggressive at Time 2). Furthermore, sociometric ratings of children at Time 1 who became aggressive by Time 2 foreshadowed this transition. Children who discontinued aggressive behaviors were friends with children who were evaluated by peers as significantly less aggressive than the friends of children who continued aggressive behaviors. These findings suggest that early identification of children at risk for developing aggressive behavior may be possible through group‐level peer evaluations, and identification of those at risk for continuing aggressive behavior may be possible through the evaluation of special dyadic friendships. Aggr. Behav. 26:277–290, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Cognitive Moderators of the Longitudinal Association Between Peer Rejection and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

This longitudinal study examined peer rejection as a predictor of adolescent depressive symptoms during the critical developmental period associated with substantial increases in the prevalence of girls' depression. In a sample of 158 adolescents aged 15-17 years, a peer nomination, sociometric assessment was conducted to examine adolescents' peer status at an initial time point, along with self-report measures of depressive symptoms, depressogenic attributions, and peer importance. Adolescents completed a second measure of depressive symptoms 17 months later. Results were consistent with integrated cognitive vulnerability-stress and cognitive dissonance models, particularly for girls. Specifically, peer rejection was a significant prospective predictor of depressive symptoms when combined with high levels of importance ascribed to peer status and high levels of adolescents' depressogenic attributional styles.     

Measures of effectiveness in a short-term Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving programme

The effects of a classroom-based, short-term Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving programme for 24 7- and 8-year-old children were assessed immediately after a 4-week intervention programme and again after a 4-week follow-up period. A previous study (Erwin & Ruane, Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 7, 305–310, 1993) implementing such a short-term programme relied on sociometric testing to measure the social effectiveness of the training and failed to find any changes in social status. The present study incorporated playground observations and found behavioural improvements immediately after training and after the follow-up period for the experimental group. However, confirming the previous study, no significant differences in sociometric status were found. The results highlight the limitations of sociometry as a measure of the effectiveness of a programme of training in Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-solving.