Peer mediation: citizenship and social inclusion revisited

In sociometric research tradition, popularity is defined as the degree to which children are liked or accepted by their peers. However, research indicates that two definitions of popular students should be distinguished: (1) popular students as those students who are well liked by many and disliked by few peers, and (2) popular students as those students who are described as popular by their peers. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between sociometric and peer perceived popularity in Slovenian students of different grades of elementary and secondary school. Additionally, the age differences in the relationship between sociometric and peer perceived popularity were examined. Another purpose of the study was to investigate the differential relationships between concepts of popularity and some students' characteristics. The participants were 321 boys and 329 girls who ranged from the 5th grade of elementary school (the mean age 11.04 years) to the 3rd grade of secondary school (the mean age 17.02 years). The results of this study confirm previous findings that peer perceived popularity is a construct that is distinct from sociometric popularity. There are some substantial differences in relations between indices of perceived popularity and sociometric indices between elementary school students and secondary school students—i.e. between early adolescents and middle to late adolescents. It seems that perceived popularity and sociometric popularity are rather similar constructs in elementary school students, whereas in secondary school students they become almost unrelated to each other. Based on these findings, the terminological issues are discussed and some conclusions are made.     

Acceptance or rejection? The social experiences of children with special educational needs and disabilities within a mainstream primary school

ABSTRACT

This article details a study which investigated the social acceptance and friendships of children with SEND, and their typically developing peers, at a mainstream primary school in the North West of England. Participants were 29 children aged five and six years old, separated into three groups; typically developing children, children who were being monitored for SEND, and children with formally identified SENDs. With the use of a peer nomination sociometric technique, findings revealed that children with SEND had less promising peer relations and friendships compared to children tracked for SEND and their typically developing peers, consequently questioning the mainstream ‘ideal’.     

Assessing children's perceptions of prosocial and antisocial peer behaviour

The aims of this study were to administer an assessment measure that would identify prosocial children, bullies and their victims, and to examine the underlying structure of children's perceptions of peer social behaviour in these three groups. Three versions (peer nomination, self and teacher rating) of a newly developed child social behaviour questionnaire (CSBQ) were completed by children (aged 9/10 years, n=321) and their teachers in 14 Scottish primary schools. The CSBQ is distinguished from other extant measures by its joint focus on both prosocial and antisocial child behaviours, and by its use of concrete and empirically derived items. In conjunction with sociometric data, which was also elicited from the children, the CSBQ yielded scores on 12 behavioural dimensions. Based upon the peer nomination data, a set of rigorous criteria, capable of reliably identifying children in the three groups, was developed to take account of varying peer nomination practices within and between schools. Factor analysis of the 12 measures yielded four factors (two antisocial factors, a prosocial factor and a victim factor) which accounted for 71% of the variance, and which offer further insight into the organisation of children's perceptions of social behaviour. Gender differences in peer nomination patterns and comparisons between the different informant groups are discussed in relation to previous work.     

Child-Mother Attachment of Six-Year-Olds and Social Competence at School

89 children and their mothers participated in a study examining the association between attachment and peer social competence. During the summer following kindergarten, quality of attachment was assessed from reunion episodes following a 1-hour separation. In the fall, measures of sociometric status, peer behavior nominations, and peer liking ratings were collected. Teachers completed liking ratings and ratings of behavior problems and competence. Consistent with longitudinal studies of infant attachment and peer relations, insecurely attached boys were less well liked by peers and teachers, were perceived as more aggressive by classmates, and were rated by teachers as less competent and as having more behavior problems than were their secure counterparts. No such associations emerged for girls. Possible explanations for unanticipated differences in the pattern of results for boys and girls are discussed.     

The classification of preschool children's sociometric status

Six sociometric measures were evaluated on a sample of 85 four-year-olds from three preschool and day care centers. Stability, intercorrelations, and accuracy of classifying rejected children were compared for measures of social preference, social impact, peer ratings, alternative status, and positive and negative nominations. Test-retest correlations were moderately high and quite similar for all measures except social impact. Children were classified as rejected or not rejected based on Z scores of −.50 on all measures except for negative nominations, which employed a Z of +.50. In comparison with the commonly used social preference measure, accurate classifications were obtained using negative nominations, peer ratings, and alternative status. Positive nominations were somewhat less accurate in identifying rejected children, and social impact was a poor index of social status. Results suggest that both nominations and peer ratings can be assessed reliably with preschool children and that the two sociometric techniques measure similar aspects of social status. The alternative status measure was demonstrated to be a reliable and accurate technique for identifying rejected children in the preschool years. Implications for social skills intervention are discussed.     

Peer Assessment of Children's Prosocial Behaviour

The study was designed to examine 8-12-year-olds' peer assessments of prosocial behaviour and their relationship to self-assessments, teacher-assessments and peer acceptance. Although prosocial behaviour has been studied for many years, it has been narrowly operationalised and research has tended to lack ecological validity. To rectify these weaknesses, child-generated normative prosocial behaviours were used to generate peer nomination items for the purpose of rating children's performance of prosocial behaviour in peer interactions. Children also filled out self-ratings of social behaviour and peer sociometric nominations. Teachers assessed children's social behaviour, rating the same child-generated prosocial behaviours. Popular children were rated as significantly more prosocial than all other sociometric groups and rejected children were rated as significantly less prosocial than all other groups. The highest correlation was found between teacher and peer reports of prosocial behaviour. Self-ratings and peer-ratings of prosocial behaviour were significantly related, as were self-ratings and teacherratings of prosocial behaviour. Implications of research findings are discussed.     

Friendship Networks of Unpopular, Average, and Popular Children

Existence of friendship and friendship network characteristics were examined among children who differed in popularity status using a relatively unrestricted friendship nomination procedure. Fifth and sixth graders ( N = 227 ) completed a rating-scale sociometric to index popularity and provided information on up to 15 good friends. Results indicated that all children reported having at least one unilateral friend. Unpopular children were less likely than popular children to have at least one reciprocal friend, although the large majority (77%) did have a reciprocal friend. Results also indicated that unpopular children's unilateral friendship networks, in comparison to the networks of their more popular peers, contained a greater number of younger school-age friends and fewer same-age friends, more friends located outside of the school but within the same school district, and more unpopular and fewer popular school friends. Unpopular children's reciprocal friendship networks were significantly smaller, were more evenly distributed within and outside of the classroom, and contained fewer average and popular friends as well as friends of the opposite sex. Findings suggest advantages to using an unrestricted friendship nomination instrument and emphasize the need to consider both popularity and friendship when investigating children's peer relationships.     

Students with reading and spelling disabilities: peer groups and educational attainment in secondary education

The present study investigated whether the members of adolescents' peer groups are similar in reading and spelling disabilities and whether this similarity contributes to subsequent school achievement and educational attainment. The sample consisted of 375 Finnish adolescents whose reading and spelling disabilities were assessed at age 16 with the Finnish dyslexia screening test. The students also completed a sociometric nomination measure that was used to identify their peer groups. Register information on participants' school grades also was available, and educational attainment in secondary education was recorded 5 years after completion of the 9 years of basic education. The results revealed that the members of adolescent peer groups resembled each other in reading disabilities but not in those of spelling. Reading disabilities and academic achievement shared within the peer group also contributed to educational attainment in secondary education. Finally, reading disabilities played a larger role in educational attainment among males than among females.     

The Relations of Regulation and Negative Emotionality to Indonesian Children''s Social Functioning

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of individual differences in regulation and negative emotionality to 127 third-grade Indonesian children's social skills/low externalizing problem behavior, sociometric status, and shyness. Parents and multiple teachers provided information on children's regulation, negative emotionality, and social functioning; peer sociometric information on liking and social behavior was obtained; and children reported on their self-regulation. In general, children's low socially appropriate behavior/ high problem behavior and rejected peer status were related to low dispositional regulation and high negative emotionality (intense emotions and anger), and regulation and negative emotionality (especially teacher rated) sometimes accounted for unique (additive) variance in children's social functioning. Adult-reported shyness was related to low peer nominations of disliked/fights (although shy children were not especially liked), low adult-reported regulation, and (to a lesser degree) low teacher-rated negative emotionality. Findings are compared with work on regulation, negative emotionality, social competence, and shyness in other countries.     

Evaluating the adolescent peer leader aids education project

A group of peer leaders, together with members of their peer group(s) was identified using sociometric methods. Peer leaders participated in an intervention involving the acquisition of authentic health and sexuality knowledge; the development of social and interpersonal skills; valuing activities and outdoor education. On return to their school and homes, the peer leaders were monitored, together with previously identified members of their peer groups, in order to assess the extent to which peer leader influence diffused to the school community. An instrument was administered to the school population before and after the peer leader intervention in order to measure eight outcome variables of concern to teenagers regarding human relationships. Instrument scales were reduced using factor analytic procedures, and data were subjected to ANOVA. These suggested a modest transfer of peer leader influence to the school population occurred. The study has implications for health and human relations curricula.     

The social status of children with learning disabilities: a reexamination

Although the low social status of children with learning disabilities (LD) has been well documented, little is known about the specific types of peer status problems that characterize these children. The present study utilized current sociometric procedures in order to clarify the nature of social status difficulties encountered by children with LD. Consistent with previous studies, results revealed that children with LD obtain significantly lower sociometric scores relative to their nondisabled peers. Moreover, children with LD were found to be disproportionately overrepresented in the rejected and neglected sociometric groups, and underrepresented in the popular and average groups. Over half of the total LD sample was classified into one of the low status categories, with approximately equal numbers in the rejected and neglected groups. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The peer relations of mildly delayed and nonhandicapped preschool children in mainstreamed playgroups

Previously unacquainted groups of normally developing and mildly developmentally delayed preschool-age boys (N = 64) were brought together to form a series of 8 mainstreamed playgroups. Each playgroup consisted of 3 normally developing 3-year-olds, 3 normally developing 4-year-olds, and 2 mildly developmentally delayed 4-year-olds. The delayed children were matched with the normally developing older group for chronological age and with the normally developing younger group for developmental level. Each playgroup operated 5 days per week for 2 hours per day for a 4-week period. During that time, the peer-related social and play interactions of each child were videotaped, and peer sociometric ratings were obtained at the completion of each playgroup. Analyses of social participation and individual social behavior measures revealed that the analogue playgroup setting was appropriate for evaluating peer interactions, as expected developmental patterns emerged despite the presence of children heterogeneous with respect to chronological age and developmental status. The existence of a deficit in peer-related social interactions for mildly delayed children was supported in this investigation--a deficit that could not be attributed to reputational factors, the unavailability of responsive peers, inadequate matching procedures, unusual sample characteristics, or similar factors. Selected observational measures, peer preference patterns during free play, and peer sociometric ratings also indicated that the delayed children were perceived to be less competent and of lower social status. However, despite their relative isolation, important developmental opportunities were available for mildly delayed children in the mainstreamed playgroups. Possible processes responsible for these outcomes were discussed.     

A Comparison of Aggressive-Rejected and Nonaggressive-Rejected Children's Interpretations of Self-Directed and Other-Directed Rejection

The hypothesis that aggressive-rejected children are unaware of their social status because they are self-protective when processing negative peer feedback was tested in 3 studies. In Study 1, fourth-grade girls and boys were asked to name peers they liked or disliked, as well as peers they thought liked or disliked them. Comparisons of aggressive-rejected, nonaggressive-rejected, and average status groups revealed that aggressive-rejected children were more unrealistic in their assessments of their social status than were nonaggressive-rejected children. In Study 2, rejected and average boys identified in Study 1 were asked to name who they thought liked or disliked other children from their classroom. Comparisons of perceived and actual nominations for peers revealed that aggressive-rejected children were able to assess the social status of others as well as did nonaggressive-rejected and average status children. Because the difficulties aggressive-rejected children demonstrated in Study 1 did not generalize to judging the status of others in Study 2, the self-protective hypothesis was supported. Study 3 provided a parallel test of this hypothesis under more controlled conditions. Subjects from Study 2 viewed other children receiving rejection feedback from peers in videotaped interactions and received similar feedback themselves from experimental confederates. While all subjects rated self-directed feedback somewhat more positively than other-directed feedback, aggressive-rejected subjects had the largest self-favoring discrepancy between their judgments of self- and other-directed feedback. These findings also suggest that aggressive-rejected children may make self-protective "errors" when judging other children's negative feelings about them. Ethnicity differences in evaluating peer feedback emerged in Studies 1 and 3, raising questions about the impact of minority status on children's evaluations of rejection feedback.     

Social competence in internationally adopted and institutionalized children

A growing, sizable proportion of school children do not live in conventional family environments. Among these, internationally adopted children have gained increasing visibility in recent years. While other areas of their behavior have been widely explored, little is known about adopted children's social competence and their integration into peer groups. This study, involving 148 children between 4 and 8 years of age, compared 40 internationally adopted children with 50 children who were residing in institutions for children and 58 community comparison children. Social competence, problems with peers and friendship relationships were assessed using SSRS and SDQ, with both parents/caretakers and teachers as the informants. The sociometric status of the children and their friendship relationships were obtained through their teachers’ reports. The results showed statistically significant differences between children living in institutions (more problems with peers, poorer social skills and sociometric status) and those in family environments, whether adopted and non-adopted. Also, the results suggest some minor differences between the adopted and the comparison children, the former with greater visibility and the latter with higher sociometric status in the peer group.     

Social preference choices in late elementary school: Within and across group nominations

This study examined the social preference nominations (i.e., “liked most” and “liked least”) in relation to peer group and classroom social dynamics in a sample of 622 fifth graders from 11 schools in a southeastern state. Liked most and liked least nominations were given to a small concentration of students within classrooms. The top five nominees for liked most and liked least tended to be in peer groups and associated with at least one classmate who shared their position as a top nominee. The majority of liked most nominations in a classroom were made toward members inside the nominator's group, whereas the majority of liked least nominations were made toward peers outside one's group. Students in the same peer group were more likely to nominate the same peers as liked most than were students who did not affiliate together. In contrast, the concordance for liked least nominations was moderate at both the peer‐group and classroom level. Implications for school‐based social interventions are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A comparative study of the self-esteem,sociometric status,and insight of referred and nonreferred school children

Elementary-grade children referred to a school-based mental health program were compared with randomly selected classmates on measures of self-esteem, sociometric status, and insight. Interrelationships among criterion measures also were examined. Referred children had significantly lower self-esteem, peer acceptance, and insight than did the comparison group, even though these variables were modestly intercorrelated. Thus, the study lends support to the trend in prior research associating deficits in such variables with school maladjustment.     

Childhood peer status as predictor of midadolescence peer situation and social adjustment

This longitudinal study examined the relation between stable sociometric status among same‐gender classmates at age 10–11 and peer situation and social adjustment at age 15. Rejected, popular, and average groups of both genders (N = 90) were selected from a representative school sample. Rejected boys and girls preserved their low position among same‐gender class peers at age 15. They also had low status among cross‐gender class peers. Furthermore, rejected children perceived their peer situation as worse compared to other children. As expected, adolescents had most of their peers in ordinary or conventional peer categories, that is, same‐age peers, class peers, and other school peers. Rejected participants had a smaller number of conventional peers than other children in some categories (same‐age and school peers). There were, however, no peer‐status differences in nonconventional peer categories, like different‐age and antisocial peers; neither were there differences in own antisocial tendencies. Antisocial deviancy seems to be more common among boys and their peers than among girls. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 745–757, 2005.     

Social integration of deaf children in inclusive settings

This article examines social integration of deaf children in inclusive settings in The Netherlands. Eighteen Grade 1-5 deaf children and their 344 hearing classmates completed 2 sociometric tasks, peer ratings and peer nomination, to measure peer acceptance, social competence, and friendship relations. Deaf and hearing children were found to be similar in their peer acceptance and friendship relations, but differences occurred in social competence. Deaf children scored lower than hearing children on prosocial behavior and higher on socially withdrawn behavior. Structural equation modeling showed peer acceptance, social competence, and friendship relations to be stable over time, and the structure of interrelations between variables at 2 measurements were found to be the same for deaf and hearing participants.     

Relationship between social perception and peer status in children with learning disabilities

This study was undertaken to examine the social perceptual skill deficit theory in explaining the low peer acceptance of children with learning disabilities. The quality of tests measuring social perception was also examined. Thirty 9- to 12-year-old children with learning disabilities and a matched control group were given two measures of social perception: a laboratory task and a behavior rating scale. The behavior rating scale was completed by the children's teachers. In addition, the Peer Acceptance Scale (Bruininks, Rynders, & Gross, 1974) was administered to assess peer status. Results showed that the children with learning disabilities differed significantly from their nondisabled peers on each of the three measures-the children with learning disabilities obtained lower social perception and peer acceptance scores. However, the relationships between sociometric status and social perception varied as a function of task. A small but significant correlation wa found between the behavior rating scale and peer status. The laboratory task was not correlated with either the behavior rating scale or peer status. Results are discussed in terms of the psychometric properties of laboratory versus naturalistic measures of social perception and the importance of establishing the external validity of social skill measures by correlating them with outcome measures such as peer status.     

Student perceptions of high-achieving classmates

The reported study investigated students’ perceptions of their high-performing classmates in terms of intelligence, social skills, and conscientiousness in different school subjects. The school subjects for study were examined with regard to cognitive, physical, and gender-specific issues. The results show that high academic achievements in particular school subjects lead to negative reactions in the peer group whereas high achievements in other school subjects result in positive peer reactions. In contrast, the respondents’ gender and the gender of the successful classmates had little influence on student perceptions of high achievers. The results are discussed in regard to their implications for gifted education.