Adjusting for Group Size Effects in Peer Nomination Data

Adjusting nomination‐based sociometric and peer assessment scores for biases due to variations in group size has been a long‐standing concern for peer relations researchers. The techniques that have been typically used to make these adjustments (e.g., proportion and standardized scores) are known to have fundamental problems that limit their utility. This study introduces a regression‐based procedure that adjusts nomination‐based scores for variations in group size and compares it with the standardization and proportion procedures. Analyses were conducted on sociometric and peer assessment scores of 1594 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from 63 classrooms. The advantages of the regression‐based procedure over standardization and proportion transformations are outlined. Implications for the accuracy and validity of nomination‐based measures and the research findings based on them are discussed.     

Relations Between Alphabetized Name Order and Nomination Counts in Peer Nomination Measures

Peer nominations, a central method for measuring peer relationships in developmental research, typically involve asking children or adolescents to choose peers who fit various criteria from an alphabetized roster of classmates or grade‐mates. Although such measures have been used for decades, very little research has investigated the effects of alphabetical name order on the number of nominations received by peers. This study collected peer nominations for 20 items among 607 eighth grade participants in two schools. Regression analyses showed that earlier name order significantly predicted higher nomination counts for eight of the items, and explained over 5 percent of the variance in four affective variables (friendship, acceptance, acquaintanceship, and received liking). Across variables, name order effects were negatively correlated with internal reliability of nominations, implying that order effects may be related to the consensus of the peer group. Name order also had a minimal effect on inter‐correlations among a subset of variables. Implications and concrete recommendations for controlling and reducing name order effects in future research are discussed.     

The Effects of Participation Rate on the Internal Reliability of Peer Nomination Measures

Although low participation rates have historically been considered problematic in peer nomination research, some researchers have recently argued that small proportions of participants can, in fact, provide adequate sociometric data. The current study used a classical measurement perspective to investigate the internal reliability (Cronbach's α) of peer nomination measures of acceptance, popularity, friendship, prosocial behavior, and overt aggression. Data from 642 participants attending 10 schools were resampled at different participation rates ranging from 5 percent to 100 percent of the original samples. Results indicated that (1) the association between participation rate and Cronbach's α was curvilinear across schools and variables; (2) collecting more data for a given variable (by using unlimited vs. limited nominations, or two vs. one items) was significantly related to higher internal reliability; and (3) certain variables (overt aggression, popularity) were more reliable than others (acceptance, friendship). Implications for future research were discussed.     

Teacher Reports of Children's Friendships and Social Groups: Agreement with Peer Reports and Implications for Studying Peer Similarity

Teacher–peer agreement about children’s friendships and social group affiliations was examined in a sample of 219 children in grades 1, 3, and 5. Peer reports were used to identify reciprocated friendships and informal social groups. Teachers listed each child’s closest friends and described the informal social groups existing in their classrooms. Teachers also rated children’s externalizing behavior problems and academic orientation and provided direct ratings of the externalizing behavior problems and academic orientation of children’s friends. Teacher–peer agreement was reliable for friendships and social groups and was stronger in the upper elementary grades. Estimates of peer similarity were highest when teachers provided global ratings of the behaviors of the children’s friends. Results suggest that teacher reports of children’s peer affiliations have some validity but result in inflated estimates of peer similarity.     

They're Cool: Social Status and Peer Group Supports for Aggressive Boys and Girls

This study examined who among the 526 fourth to sixth graders are nominated as among the coolest kids in their class. There were two questions: (1) Are popular‐aggressive (tough) children nominated as cool by a broad spectrum of their peers, or only by a select few? (2) Does variability in children’s cool nominations more closely follow their individual characteristics or group affiliations? Three‐level hierarchical linear modeling (nominators in groups in classrooms) tested the study hypotheses. The main finding was that children in aggressive groups nominated tough peers as cool and children in nonaggressive groups nominated popular‐nonaggressive (model) peers, regardless of nominators’ individual characteristics or the prominence of their groups across diverse classroom contexts. Girls were proportionately more likely to nominate tough than model boys, but only a minority (less than 25 percent) of relatively aggressive girls nominated any boys as cool. Findings indicate that normative boy and girl peer cultures give broad reputational support to some aggressive children.     

Dimensions of Social Status in Preadolescent Peer Groups: Likability, Perceived Popularity, and Social Dominance

A multidimensional, interdisciplinary model of social status was developed and examined in a sample of 487 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade elementary school students. Participants were clustered into seven subtypes (i.e., High Status, Perceived Popular/Dominant, Well‐Liked/Dominant, Average, Low Dominant/Unpopular, Disliked, and Low Status) based on the dimensions of likability, perceived popularity, and social dominance emphasized, respectively, by psychologists working within the sociometric tradition, sociologists of education, and ethologists. The meaningfulness of the cluster solution was supported by cluster differences on peer‐reported social prerogatives of status (e.g., admiration, social control, leadership) and self‐reported social characteristics. Furthermore, each cluster had a distinct behavioral profile. It was argued that a broader, multidisciplinary conceptualization of social status should lead to a better understanding of the complex dynamics present in children's peer groups in middle childhood as well as the tools preadolescents need to successfully navigate the peer system.     

Methodological Issues in the Use of Peer Sociometric Nominations with Middle School Youth

Studies reporting sociometric assessments based on nominations have been characterized by important methodological inconsistencies when conducted in the middle school context. The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the possibility of a response bias when participants are provided with a long roster sorted alphabetically, (2) the impact of including or not other‐sex peers in the voting population, and (3) the impact of including or not all the grademates in the voting population. Participants were 664 sixth graders from three middle schools. Peer nominations for sociometric items (i.e., like most and like least), as well as teacher ratings of antisocial behavior and records of academic performance, were collected. A sequence effect in peer nominations was found, suggesting that students whose names were listed higher on the rosters received more nominations than did students whose names were listed lower on the list. Moreover, results indicated that the nominations received from the other‐sex grademates and from the grademates outside the classroom improved the predictive validity of the sociometric measure. The implications of these results for the use of sociometric assessment in middle schools are discussed.     

Socialization of Physical and Social Aggression in Early Adolescents' Peer Groups: High‐status Peers,Individual Status,and Gender

The influence of high‐status peers on a target individual's physical and manipulative social aggression in peer groups was examined in a diverse sample of seventh‐grade students. A total of 245 individual members belonging to 65 groups were included in analyses. Aggression was assessed by peer and victim nominations in the fall and spring semesters of seventh grade. High‐status peers rather than low‐status peers in a group had a strong influence on individual members' physical and social aggression. High‐status peers were particularly influential on low‐status individual members' social aggression. A similar pattern was found for physical aggression in boys' groups. These findings imply that high‐status members' aggression rather than the average of all members' may better represent the group norm. Special attention needs to be given to high‐status aggressive adolescents in future intervention and prevention of aggression in schools.     

Emotion Knowledge Skills in Low-income Elementary School Children: Associations with Social Status and Peer Experiences

This short‐term longitudinal study examined relations between emotion knowledge and social functioning in a sample of low‐income kindergarten and 1st graders. Individual differences in spontaneous emotion naming and emotion recognition skills were used to predict children's social functioning at school, including peer‐nominated sociometric status, and child self‐reports of negative experiences with peers in school (peer victimization and rejection). Children who had greater emotional vocabulary and recognized emotions more accurately had better outcomes in all areas, and many of the associations between fall emotion knowledge skills and spring social functioning outcomes held after covarying grade and children's previous status with regard to these outcomes. Results are discussed with regard to implications for prevention and intervention programs (e.g., the PATHS curriculum) that focus on teaching emotion knowledge skills in order to foster high‐risk children's social competence.     

The Impact of Clique Membership on Children's Social Behavior and Status Nominations

The impact of children's clique membership on their peer nominations for social behaviors and status was examined in a sample of 455 third‐ through fifth‐grade children. Social identity theory (SIT) and children's peer group affiliation and context served as primary conceptual frameworks for this investigation. As suggested by SIT, results indicated that children displayed favorable views toward their own cliquemates, nominating cliquemates more often for positive characteristics (e.g., prosocial, cool) and high status indicators (like‐most, most‐popular) than for negative characteristics (e.g., aggression) and low status indicators (like‐least, least‐popular). At the same time, children's views toward their cliquemates were commensurate with the clique's normative reputations as determined by the broader peer group (i.e., grade). This suggests that children's perceptions toward their cliquemates, albeit favorable, are also regulated by the overall clique context. Meaningful gender and grade effects on children's cliquemate nomination patterns were found. Findings also were discussed regarding the impact of clique size on a peer‐based assessment of social reputations and status.     

The Social Context of Young Children's Peer Victimization

The goal of this study was to investigate differences in the social context of peer victimization for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Data were collected from 168 children. For preschoolers, neither social acceptance nor friendships were significantly related to peer victimization. Instead, playing with peers and exposure to aggressive peers were associated with higher rates of peer victimization. For kindergarteners, exposure to aggressive peers also contributed to the risk for peer victimization, but being liked by peers and having friends were inversely related to victimization, thereby providing a buffering effect. The developmental implications of these findings are discussed.     

Self-perceived Social Acceptance and Peer Social Standing in Children with Aggressive–Disruptive Behaviors

Examining children's perceptions of their social acceptance in conjunction with others’ ratings of their peer social standing can enhance our understanding of the heterogeneity in children exhibiting disruptive behavior problems. Using a sample of 213 youth rated in the top 31 percent of their class on aggressive–disruptive behaviors, the current study examined the interaction between children's perceptions of their social acceptance and their peer‐rated social standing in predicting emotional and behavioral problems. Overall, lower peer‐rated social standing was associated with higher levels of antisocial behavior, academic problems, and hyperactivity/inattention. On the other hand, higher self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased levels of peer‐rated fighting at school. For children who were rated as having high social standing among their peers, poorer self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased oppositional behaviors and conduct problems at home. In addition, children who reported lower self‐perceived social acceptance exhibited increased levels of depressive symptoms, even when they were relatively well liked by their peers. The potential implications for working with subgroups of children with aggressive–disruptive behaviors are discussed.     

Social Competence with Peers in Third Grade: Associations with Earlier Peer Experiences in Childcare1

The early developmental antecedents of individual differences in children's social functioning with peers in third grade were examined using longitudinal data from the large‐scale National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) study of early child care. In a sample of 1,364 children, with family and child factors controlled, the frequency of positive and negative peer interactions in childcare between 24 and 54 months and the number of hours spent in childcare peer groups of different sizes (alone, dyad, small, medium, large) predicted third graders' peer competence at three levels of analysis: individual social skills, dyadic friendships, and peer‐group acceptance. Children who had more positive experiences with peers in childcare had better social and communicative skills with peers in third grade, were more sociable and co‐operative and less aggressive, had more close friends, and were more accepted and popular. Children with more frequent negative experiences with peers in childcare were more aggressive in third grade, had lower social and communicative skills, and reported having fewer friends. When children spent more time in small‐sized peer groups in childcare (four or fewer children at 24 months of age up to seven or fewer at 54 months), they were more sociable and co‐operative in third grade, but their teachers rated them as more aggressive, suggesting that such children may be more socially outgoing and active both positively and negatively. Like those who spent more time in small peer groups, children who spent more hours in medium‐sized groups received higher ratings for peer aggression by their third‐grade teachers. Children who spent more time with one other child in childcare or in small peer groups had fewer classroom friends in third grade as reported by the teacher but not according to maternal report or self‐report. There were no significant associations between the amount of time children spent in large childcare‐based peer groups and third‐grade peer social competence.     

Social Status,Perceived Social Reputations,and Perceived Dyadic Relationships in Early Adolescence

This investigation examined social acceptance and popularity as correlates of perceived social reputations and perceived dyadic relationships in a cross‐sectional sample of 418 6th and 7th grade students (approximate average age of 12 years). We assessed early adolescents' social status using peer nominations and measured their perceptions of their social status, behavioral reputations, and friendships from a combination of self‐ratings and peer nominations. Social acceptance was positively related to perceptions of social acceptance and friendships and negatively related to perceptions of rejection and a victimized reputation. Popularity was positively associated with perceptions of popularity, rejection, and an aggressive reputation and negatively associated with perceptions of unpopularity and a socially withdrawn reputation. Our results were, in general, consistent with the suggestion that social acceptance is related to perceiving facets of reputations and relationships relevant to forming and maintaining friendships whereas popularity is related to perceiving facets pertinent to gaining social power.     

The Multiple Meanings of Peer Groups in Social Cognitive Mapping

Social cognitive mapping (SCM) is a common approach to identifying peer groups in developmental research. However, this approach involves three stages that each implies a unique conception of peer group. This article aims to bring conceptual clarity to the identification of peer groups using SCM by demonstrating how the meaning of peer groups differs at each stage of SCM. First, in the data collecting stage, interaction groups identify sets of children that hang out together. Second, in the data aggregating stage, co‐membership groups identify sets of children who are members of many of the same interaction groups. Third, in the data analyzing stage, similarity groups identify sets of children with similar patterns of relationships with their peers. After reviewing these three conceptions of peer groups, we briefly discuss some potential problems with using SCM as a tool to measure children's social networks and peer groups. Finally, we conclude by arguing that despite these issues, SCM remains a valuable methodology, and indeed one with untapped potential. Thus, we offer suggestions for the appropriate application of these theoretically and empirically distinct conceptions of peer group, noting that developmental researchers using SCM must identify which conception of peer group is used and justify why this conception is the appropriate one.     

Children's Appraisal of Peer Rejection Experiences: Impact on Social and Emotional Adjustment

In the current study, 95 children of different social status classifications (rejected, neglected, average, and popular) were exposed to hypothetical vignettes designed to assess their ‘generalized’ rejection sensitivity (GRS) and a mild social rejection experience designed to assess their ‘on‐line’ rejection sensitivity (ORS). Measures of internalizing and externalizing problems were assessed through a composite of peer‐ , parent‐ , and self‐reports. As expected, sociometric rejection was associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems. More importantly, both types of rejection sensitivity were associated with internalizing and externalizing problems after controlling for the effect of peer rejection. High levels of GRS were associated with more internalizing problems for both boys and girls. In addition, rejection sensitivity emerged as a significant moderator of the relation between rejection and externalizing problems. The nature of the moderating effect varied as function of type of rejection sensitivity and gender. Rejected girls with low GRS and rejected boys with high ORS displayed the highest levels of externalizing behavior problems.     

Adolescent Peer Groups and Social Identity

This study investigated processes by which adolescents form positive evaluations of their peer groups. One‐hundred and fifteen male and female adolescents aged 14–15 years made a series of comparisons between their own peer group (the ingroup) and a group of which they were not a member (the outgroup). In line with the predictions of social identity theory ( Tajfel and Turner, 1979 ), participants behaved consistently in ways which favoured the ingroup: compared to the outgroup, the ingroup was associated to a greater extent with positive characteristics (e.g. being fun, nice, and honest) and to a lesser extent with negative characteristics (e.g. being ignorant, unfriendly, and boring). Their responses were also related to levels of identification with the ingroup: at higher levels of identification participants reported more favourable evaluations of their groups. These findings extend earlier research and show how the benefits derived from group membership in adolescence are in part realised through intergroup processes.     

遵从抑或濡染？班级同伴网络视角下的心理健康研究

本文超越了既有研究的个体网络视角,通过使用中国教育追踪调查（CEPS）的两期数据,考察班级同伴网络对学生心理健康的影响及其条件机制。本研究有如下发现：首先,在中国行政班级制度下,班级整体心理健康水平（社会遵从效应）和快乐同伴比例（快乐同伴效应）能够对学生的心理健康产生显著的正向影响,抑郁同伴比例与学生的心理健康呈显著负相关（抑郁同伴效应）;其次,学生更倾向于受到与自己心理健康观念和行为类似的同伴的影响,对于班级相对心理健康状况较差、中等、较好的学生而言,抑郁同伴效应、社会遵从效应和快乐同伴效应分别发挥显著的主导作用;最后,班级同伴网络对集体融入、亲子交流状况不同的学生的心理健康具有差异化的影响,随着集体融入和亲子交流的提高,抑郁同伴效应逐渐减弱,而社会遵从效应和快乐同伴效应逐渐增强。     

Aggressive and Prosocial Peer Group Functioning: Effects on Children's Social,School, and Psychological Adjustment

This study examined the effects of aggressive and prosocial contexts of peer groups on children's socioemotional and school adjustment. Data on informal peer groups, social functioning, and different aspects of adjustment were collected from multiple sources in a sample of elementary school children (149 boys, 181 girls; M age = 10 years). Multilevel analyses indicated that group aggressive and prosocial orientations made direct contributions to children's social, school, and psychological functioning. Group contexts also moderated the individual‐level relations between social behavior and self‐perceptions; prosocial behavior was associated with social or scholastic self‐perceptions more evidently in low prosocial and high aggressive groups. The results suggest that the peer group is an important context for children's performance and adjustment in various domains.     

Peer Groups, Social Identity, and Children's Bullying Behavior

Drawing on social identity theory, this study explored the impact of the peer group on childhood bullying. Participants were 351 students, aged 8 to 13 years. Involvement in bullying, friendship group membership, norms of particular groups, and intra-group positions (prototypical vs. peripheral) were determined using peer reports. Results revealed within-group similarities in bullying behaviors. In addition, bullying was found to be greater when it was endorsed by group norms and when children were prototypical vs. peripheral members of bullying groups. The implications of the findings for the conceptualization of childhood bullying are discussed.