Relations of Preschoolers' Social Acceptance to Peer Ratings and Self-Perceptions

To examine the relations of preschoolers' social acceptance to peer ratings and self-perceptions, 53 preschoolers were asked to rate how much they liked or disliked their peers and to justify these ratings. Preschoolers also rated their peers' aggressive, prosocial, and sociable behavior. Finally, they completed a pictorial self-perception scale that assessed their views of their physical competence and their relationships with mother and with peers. Children who were better liked by peers were rated as more prosocial, more sociable, and less aggressive than less liked children. Preschoolers often reported liking certain peers because they perceived that those peers liked them; they often reported disliking certain peers because they perceived those peers as aggressive. In contrast to findings with older children, preschoolers' social acceptance was not significantly related to any aspect of their self-perceptions. The results provide evidence for the validity of peer ratings by preschool-age children and bring up issues related to the development and assessment of self-perceptions among preschoolers.     

小学中高年级儿童的同伴接纳、社会行为与父母教养方式的关系

通过对132名小学3、4、5年级学生的同伴接纳、社会行为和父母教养方式相互关系的问卷调查发现,儿童表现出的攻击行为越少,亲社会行为越多,则同伴接纳越高;儿童的同伴接纳与父母教养方式之间没有关系;父母不同的教养方式对儿童的社会行为产生显著的影响,父母教养方式积极的儿童表现出更多的亲社会行为.     

初中生的自尊、同伴接纳与学业成绩的关系

对302名初中生的自尊及同伴接纳状况进行了调查,探讨初中生的自尊、同伴接纳与学业成绩的关系.结果显示,初中生的自尊发展存在年级差异,但不存在性别上的差异;初中生的自尊发展、同伴接纳与学业成绩都存在着密切的关系;初中生的自尊发展、同伴接纳对学业成绩有显著预测作用.     

The Relations of Emotionality and Regulation to Preschoolers' Social Skills and Sociometric Status

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of emotionality (intensity and negative emotion) and regulation (coping and attentional regulation) to preschoolers' social skills (as rated by adults) and sociometric status. Teachers' ratings of children's constructive coping and attentional control were positively related to boys' social skills and peer status, whereas negative affect was negatively related. Acting out (vs. avoidant) coping and emotional intensity were negatively related to girls' and boys' social skills and boys' peer status. In addition, mothers' reports of boys' coping by seeking social support and low emotional intensity were associated with boys' positive social functioning, whereas avoidant coping was positively related to girls' rated social skills. The results are discussed in relation to research on emotion regulation and coping with emotion in interpersonal contexts.     

Peer Acceptance and Social Adjustment in Preschool and Kindergarten

Research on the relation between social behavior and peer acceptance in preschool children and the long-term consequences of peer acceptance or rejection is reviewed. Preschool children who exhibit aggressive behavior tend to be rejected by peers at an early age and these first impressions have a lasting effect on peer acceptance, in spite of subsequent changes in the child's behavior. Social behaviors that are related to peer popularity vary by age and sex. Children who experience high levels of peer acceptance in preschool and who have friends entering kindergarten with them make a better adjustment to school. Recommendations for fostering social development in preschoolers are discussed.     

Social and Emotional Competencies: Contributions to Young African-American Children's Peer Acceptance

This study explored the relation between measures of emotional competence, behavioral regulation, and general social competence and African-American preschoolers' peer acceptance and popularity. These children came from both lower and middle income families. Data were collected in a short-term longitudinal study following children over the course of a school year. Gender, emotion knowledge, emotion regulation, and themes of violence in response to hypothetical situations of interpersonal conflict were strongly related to peer acceptance. The results are consistent with findings from middle-class Caucasian samples. The results also highlight the importance of potential influences of context and setting on children's peer status as well as the need for greater understanding of within- group variability with regard to these constructs. Given the growing evidence that peer relationships are related in important ways to children's school adjustment, understanding the development of positive peer relationships may help shed light on ways to help children achieve at more optimal levels in the school context.     

The Self-Perceptions of Pupils with Down Syndrome in Relation to Their Academic Competence,Physical Competence and Social Acceptance

The self-perceptions of 64 pupils with Down syndrome aged between 8 and 16 years were assessed in three school related domains; academic competence, physical competence, and social acceptance. Results from the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Acceptance and a School Situations Grid suggested that pupils with Down syndrome hold very positive self-perceptions in each school related domain, that self-perceptions become more positive with age, are more positive for females than males, and remain positive regardless of school placement type. The utility of the instruments for assessing the self-perceptions of pupils with Down syndrome is discussed. Possible explanations for the study findings and suggestions for further research are also raised.     

Preschoolers' Spontaneous Emotion Vocabulary: Relations to Likability

Although there has been growing interest in the development of emotion, a surprisingly small amount of research deals with the vocabulary children use to refer to emotions. In the present study, we examined differences in children's spontaneous use of emotion vocabulary during their naturally-occurring peer interactions and explored these differences in relation to their likability as assessed by their peers. Preschoolers were observed in their interactions with other children and their utterances containing emotion words were recorded. The content, form, and pragmatic function of these emotion words then were analyzed. It was found that with increasing age, emotion vocabulary became more differentiated and complex. Moreover, children who used a larger number of different emotion words, made more references to others' emotional states, and used emotion vocabulary for social functions, were more liked by their peers. Discussion focused on understanding young children's use of emotion vocabulary, the contributions it makes to the quality of their social interactions, and the implications of these for early educators.     

高中生心理理论及其与同伴接纳关系的研究

以90名高中生为被试,考察了心理理论能力与同伴接纳的关系.结果表明:随着年龄和年级的升高,高中生的心理理论水平有所提高,但差异不显著;高中生心理理论在性别上存在显著差异;不同同伴接纳类型高中生的心理理论发展水平差异显著;同伴接纳类型不能很好地预测心理理论能力,而心理理论能力总分能显著地预测高中生的社会偏好和社会影响力.     

The Development of Social Cognition: Preschoolers' Use of Mental State Talk in Peer Conflicts

Research Findings: This research examines preschoolers' use of mental state terms in naturally occurring peer conflicts in the classroom to determine how children use mental state terms for organizing their social interactions. Analyses focus on the types, frequencies, and social interactive functions of mental state terms. Utterances (N = 166) with mental state terms from 124 conflict episodes were analyzed. Children used a number of different mental state terms, want and need being the most frequently used, to index their own and their interlocutors' desires for subtle interactive purposes. Want was paired most often with bids for action, objects, inclusion in a play area, or clarification of another child's mental state. Need was most often used when directing the other child's action or attention, to justify, clarify, or insist on their own action or previous request. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that children's peer conflicts constitute a rich setting for the active construction of social relationships through the use of utterances with mental state language. This emphasis on peer interactions has the potential to inform new ways of supporting children's self–other development as a foundation for academic success.     

Classroom-Based Social Skills Training: Impact on Peer Acceptance of First-Grade Students

Abstract

The effectiveness of regular classroom-based social skills training that was co-facilitated by the classroom teacher and a school psychologist was examined in this study. Results indicated significant gains in peer acceptance on the Work With peer rating scale and practical, but marginal, gains on the Play With peer rating scale. Our primary intentions were to (a) boost the likelihood of social skills training taking place in the regular classroom with the teacher as the provider and (b) facilitate collaboration between regular education teachers and related school personnel.     

Emotional and Behavioral Predictors of Preschool Peer Ratings

It was predicted that social cognitive, behavioral, and affective aspects of young children's social development would predict stable peer ratings of their likability. Measures of likability, emotion knowledge, prosocial and aggressive behavior, peer competence, and expressed emotions (happy and angry) were obtained for 65 subjects (mean age = 44 months). Sociometric ratings, particularly negative, were stable over 1- and 9-month time periods. Correlational analyses showed that emotion knowledge and prosocial behavior were direct predictors of likability. Prosocial behavior mediated the relations of gender and expressed emotions with likability (i.e., gender and expressed emotions were each related to prosocial behavior, and prosocial behavior was related to likability, but neither gender nor expressed emotions were related to likability with prosocial behavior partialled out). Knowledge of emotional situations similarly mediated the age-likability relation. Results uphold the early development of stable peer reputations and the hypothesized centrality of emotion-related predictors of likability.     

Relations Between Effective Emotional Self-Regulation, Attentional Control, and Low-Income Preschoolers' Social Competence with Peers

Relations between children's emotional self-regulation, attentional control, and peer social competence (as reported by both teachers and peers) were examined for 51 low-income, preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start. Using a short delay-of-gratification task administered at Head Start sites, children's use of self- distraction was found to be positively associated with their success in handling the delay, replicating previous, laboratory-based research. Contrary to our expectations, children's use of self-distraction was found to be unrelated to their attentional control, as assessed during a computer task. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that children's use of self-distraction predicted significant variance in both peer- and teacher-reports of childrem's competence with peers, even after children's attentional control was statistically taken into account. These findings are discussed in light of current models of reactivity and regulation in predicting young children's social behavior, as well as in the context of early intervention efforts for children facing socioeconomic risk.     

家庭环境、同伴关系对幼儿心理理论的影响

本研究选取哈尔滨3所幼儿园共242名3～5岁学前儿童,采用四种心理理论任务、家庭环境量表、同伴提名法进行测量,研究结果表明:幼儿心理理论发展的关键期为4岁,二级认知能力在5岁以后有很好的发展;受欢迎儿童的心理理论能力较高,而被拒绝儿童的心理理论能力较低;家庭亲密度、矛盾性、娱乐性和社会偏好可以有效的预测儿童心理理论能力。     

Relations Between Effective Emotional Self-Regulation,Attentional Control,and Low-Income Preschoolers' Social Competence with Peers

Relations between children's emotional self-regulation, attentional control, and peer social competence (as reported by both teachers and peers) were examined for 51 low-income, preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start. Using a short delay-of-gratification task administered at Head Start sites, children's use of self- distraction was found to be positively associated with their success in handling the delay, replicating previous, laboratory-based research. Contrary to our expectations, children's use of self-distraction was found to be unrelated to their attentional control, as assessed during a computer task. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that children's use of self-distraction predicted significant variance in both peer- and teacher-reports of childrem's competence with peers, even after children's attentional control was statistically taken into account. These findings are discussed in light of current models of reactivity and regulation in predicting young children's social behavior, as well as in the context of early intervention efforts for children facing socioeconomic risk.     

学习困难儿童社会目标、社会行为和同伴接纳的关系研究

随着社会信息加工心理学的崛起,人们开始用社会信息加工过程中可能存在的障碍来理解学习困难儿童的社会性发展.以往对学习困难儿童的社会目标、社会行为和同伴接纳的研究主要考察两两之间的关系,本研究用社会信息加工模型来系统考察三者之间的关系.研究发现:(1)学习困难儿童的社会目标存在年级差异;(2)学习困难儿童自我报告的攻击行为存在年级差异;(3)学习困难儿童同伴评定的攻击行为存在性别差异;(4)在敌意和非敌意归因情境下,学习困难儿童的社会目标对社会行为和同伴接纳都有影响,从而为教育者通过干预学习困难儿童的社会目标来改善他们的社会行为和人际关系提供理论依据.     

Gender-Specific Linkages of Affective Social Competence With Peer Relations in Preschool Children

Research Findings: We examined whether affective social competence, or the ability to effectively send and receive emotional signals and to manage one's own emotional experience, contributes to preschool children's peer relations. Forty-two previously unacquainted preschoolers were observed while participating in a week-long playschool. Greater nonstereotypical emotion knowledge was related to girls' popularity and boys' likelihood of having a reciprocal friendship. Girls with greater skill at sending emotional communications and managing emotions were more likely to have a reciprocal friendship. Boys who were better at managing emotions compared to others in their group were less popular. The role of social context in the influence of affective social competence on children's peer relations is discussed. Practice or Policy: Results have implications for early childhood educators' promotion of children's socioemotional skills.     

Gender-Specific Linkages of Affective Social Competence With Peer Relations in Preschool Children

Research Findings: We examined whether affective social competence, or the ability to effectively send and receive emotional signals and to manage one's own emotional experience, contributes to preschool children's peer relations. Forty-two previously unacquainted preschoolers were observed while participating in a week-long playschool. Greater nonstereotypical emotion knowledge was related to girls' popularity and boys' likelihood of having a reciprocal friendship. Girls with greater skill at sending emotional communications and managing emotions were more likely to have a reciprocal friendship. Boys who were better at managing emotions compared to others in their group were less popular. The role of social context in the influence of affective social competence on children's peer relations is discussed. Practice or Policy: Results have implications for early childhood educators' promotion of children's socioemotional skills.     

Peer Relations and Social Adjustment of Latino and Chinese Children in Head Start Classrooms

Research Findings: The present study investigated the role of ethnic similarity in the peer preferences and play quality of Latino and Chinese children enrolled in Head Start classrooms and the relationship between peer acceptance and social adjustment in these groups. Participants were 244 children (M = 4.6 years old) from Head Start preschools located in the greater Los Angeles area. Results showed that both Chinese and Latino children played more with same-ethnic than cross-ethnic peers, but only Latino children showed same-ethnic preferences in friendship nominations. Play dyads of the same ethnic group engaged in more complex play than those of different ethnic groups. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that preferences for same-ethnic peers are starting to emerge in preschool classrooms. In addition, prosocial behaviors may be important for all children, regardless of ethnicity, to gain peer acceptance. Implications for practice are addressed.