Peer Group Entry Behavior

The behavior of popular and unpopular children entering popular and unpopular groups of children served as subjects. Group entry behaviors, coded into one of seven categories, were evaluated according to whether the groups accepted, rejected, or ignored the entry child. Unpopular children “waited and hovered” longer than their more popular counterparts and were ignored more frequently by both popular and unpopular groups of children. Results are discussed in terms of a molecular approach to understanding and remediating the skill deficits of unpopular children.