Conceptions and perceived influence of peer groups: interviews with preadolescents and adolescents

72 fifth-, eighth-, and eleventh-grade boys and girls were interviewed to investigate developmental changes in perceptions of peer groups and group influence. Results indicated that preadolescents defined groups on the basis of common activities and social behavior and considered group influence to be greatest in these domains. Older adolescents were more likely to describe peer-group influence as global and far reaching, affecting one's appearance, illicit acts, attitudes, and values. Corresponding to increases in peer-group conceptions emphasizing group attitudes/norms and global influence were increases in the extent to which subjects felt that peer-group acceptance or rejection influenced self-evaluation. Developmental changes in the apparent reference-group functions of peer groups for adolescent identity formation are discussed.     

The effects of social skills training and peer involvement on the social adjustment of preadolescents

This study examined the effects of social skills training and peer involvement on the peer acceptance of disliked preadolescents. 56 fifth- and sixth-grade children were identified as unaccepted by their peers and deficient in conversational skills. These children were then randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: (1) conversational skills training (individual coaching), (2) peer involvement under superordinate goals (group experience), (3) conversational skills training combined with peer involvement (group experience with coaching), and (4) a no-treatment control. Differential treatment effects were observed at both a posttreatment and follow-up assessment. As predicted, conversational skills training promoted skill acquisition and increased skillful social interaction. Peer involvement increased peer acceptance and children's self-perceptions of their social efficacy. The results were interpreted in terms of a developmentally based multidimensional model of social competence.     

Depressive symptomatology in learning-disabled and nonlearning-disabled students

The present study examined the level of depressive symptomatology in a sample of 100 learning-disabled and nonlearning-disabled fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students. Depressive symptomatology was assessed using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). In addition, students were rated by their classroom teachers on behaviors related to depression based on the DSM-III criteria. It was found that students identified as learning disabled obtained significantly higher scores on the CDI and the behavior rating scale than did children in the regular education classroom. There were no significant differences among grade levels for CDI scores, but a trend was noted. A significant difference was found among grade levels for the behavior rating scale scores. There was a significant positive correlation between CDI scores and teacher ratings of depressive characteristics.     

A Qualitative Investigation of Fifth- and Sixth-grade Students’ Attitudes towards Intellectual Disability

Research suggests that attitudes of typically developing children towards intellectual disability (ID) play an important role in the social integration and acceptance of children with IDs. To date, however, few studies have investigated children’s attitudes towards ID. The primary objective of this study was to examine the cognitive, affective, and behavioural components of children’s attitudes towards ID. Thirty-nine (14 boys, 25 girls) fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students participated in the study. Seven focus groups were created in five different schools. Results suggested that inaccurate beliefs and negative emotions regarding ID may contribute to social and school integration problems experienced by children with IDs. The findings of the present study could be useful for the development of education and awareness programs that promote the development of more positive attitudes towards ID.     

Contributions of Male and Female Guests and Hosts to Peer Group Entry

92 7–9-year-old children (47 girls) were observed while attempting to join 2 relatively unfamiliar same- or opposite-sex peers who were playing a board game. Female guests were less obtrusive than male guests in their entry approaches, whereas male guests were more active and assertive. Guests were less behaviorally constrained when approaching same- than opposite-sex hosts. Female hosts were more attentive to the guests than male hosts, who tended to ignore the newcomers. Successful guests received initiations from the hosts, responded contingently to host initiations, and performed activity-related behavior. Since female hosts initiated more behavior to the guests than male hosts, and female guests were more contingently responsive than male guests, girls entering female groups were the most successful. These findings support the thesis that peer group entry processes and outcomes are affected by the personal characteristics and contexts of both the entering children and their hosts.     

K-ABC content bias: Comparisons between Mexican American and White children

Content (item) bias on the Mental Processing Scales and the Achievement Scale of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) was investigated with 100 Mexican American and 100 White fifth- and sixth-grade boys and girls. All children were English-speaking and from similar socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. An item-group (partial correlation) method that controlled for age, sex, and ability was used to examine bias. On the Mental Processing Scales, 17 (14%) of 120 items were found to be biased—the strong majority against the Mexican American children. On the Achievement Scale, it was observed that 58 (63%) of 92 K-ABC items were biased—all against the Mexican American sample. This latter finding is discussed in the context of possible differences in learning opportunities (language based, SES based, and school segregation) experienced by the two ethnic groups.     

Evidence of bias in predictive validity on the Kaufman assessment battery for children in samples of Anglo and Mexican American children

Possible bias in the differential predictive validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery (K-ABC) was investigated with 76 Anglo and 90 Mexican American fifth- and sixth-grade boys and girls. All children were English-speaking and from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. The criterion variable was the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS; Language, Reading, Mathematics, and Total Scores). Several statistical techniques were used to investigate test bias (examination of predictive validity coefficients; two methods of examining homogeneity of slopes of the regression lines). The results showed considerable evidence of bias in differential predictive validity, indicating that the global cognitive score of the K-ABC (the Mental Processing Composite) was less effective in predicting CTBS scores for the Mexican American group than for the Anglo group.     

The relation between behavior problems and peer preference in different classroom contexts. Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group

This study tested two alternative hypotheses regarding the relations between child behavior and peer preference. The first hypothesis is generated from the person-group similarity model, which predicts that the acceptability of social behaviors will vary as a function of peer group norms. The second hypothesis is generated by the social skill model, which predicts that behavioral skill deficiencies reduce and behavioral competencies enhance peer preference. A total of 2895 children in 134 regular first-grade classrooms participated in the study. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to compare four different behaviors as predictors of peer preference in the context of classrooms with varying levels of these behavior problems. The results of the study supported both predictive models, with the acceptability of aggression and withdrawal varying across classrooms (following a person-group similarity model) and the effects of inattentive/hyperactive behavior (in a negative direction) and prosocial behavior (in a positive direction) following a social skill model and remaining constant in their associations with peer preference across classrooms. Gender differences also emerged, with aggression following the person-group similarity model for boys more strongly than for girls. The effects of both child behaviors and the peer group context on peer preference and on the trajectory of social development are discussed.     

Relational Aggression, Gender, and Social-Psychological Adjustment

Prior studies of childhood aggression have demonstrated that, as a group, boys are more aggressive than girls. We hypothesized that this finding reflects a lack of research on forms of aggression that are relevant to young females rather than an actual gender difference in levels of overall aggressiveness. In the present study, a form of aggression hypothesized to be typical of girls, relational aggression, was assessed with a peer nomination instrument for a sample of 491 third- through sixth-grade children. Overt aggression (i.e., physical and verbal aggression as assessed in past research) and social-psychological adjustment were also assessed. Results provide evidence for the validity and distinctiveness of relational aggression. Further, they indicated that, as predicted, girls were significantly more relationally aggressive than were boys. Results also indicated that relationally aggressive children may be at risk for serious adjustment difficulties (e.g., they were significantly more rejected and reported significantly higher levels of loneliness, depression, and isolation relative to their nonrelationally aggressive peers).     

Friendships, Peer Acceptance, and Group Membership: Realtions to Academic Achievement in Middle School

Two samples of sixth-grade students were followed over time to examine relations of number of reciprocated friendships, peer acceptance, and group membership to academic achievement. In both samples, group membership was the most consistent predictor of grades over time. In study 2, prosocial behavior, antisocial behavior, and emotional distress were examined as processes that might explain these significant links between peer relationships and academic achievement. Results of longitudinal analyses support a conclusion that aspects of peer relationships are related to classroom achievement indirectly, by way of significant relations with prosocial behavior. Future research might benefit from more in-depth analyses of the functions of adolescent peer relationships and the processes by which they influence orientations toward social and academic competence at school.     

Children's Understanding of Aggression and Withdrawal as Social Stigmas: An Attributional Analysis

3 studies examined children's ability to differentiate aggression and social withdrawal using attributional constructs. In Study 1, first–sixth-grade subjects read scenarios describing a hypothetical male peer as either aggressive or withdrawn. They then made inferences about the peer's responsibility for his behavior, the amount of sympathy and anger they would feel, and the likelihood that they would help the peer with his schoolwork and want him as a friend. Perceived responsibility, and its emotional and behavioral consequences, comprised a salient dimension along which all children distinguished the 2 behavior types. The aggressive child was perceived as more responsible for his behavior, deserving of more anger and less sympathy, and eliciting less willingness to help and social acceptance. Study 2 replicated these findings with 5-year-olds, but not 4-year-olds. Study 3 revealed that other attributional dimensions, namely, locus and stability, were also used by even first graders to differentiate aggression and withdrawal, but responsibility proved to be the most salient dimension. In addition, Study 3 documented a temporal sequence whereby inferences about responsibility influence emotions of anger and sympathy, and these emotions, in turn, directly influence social acceptance of aggressive versus withdrawn peers. The importance of perceived responsibility as an organizing construct for studying peer relations was discussed.     

Reinforcing contingencies for sex-role behaviors in preschool children

Two groups of disadvantaged Afro-American children, a total of 30 boys and 25 girls, mean age about 42 months; and two groups of middle- and upper-middle-class children, most of them white, 35 boys and 31 girls, mean age about 44.5 months, were observed for patterns of sex-role-characteristic behavior and peer and teacher response to such behavior. At all times, the children in the two experimental groups were being taught by seven women and seven or eight men, about half of whom were Afro-American, half white-Anglo, and who were mixed in the two schools by race but evenly divided by sex. Boys engaged in 16% sex-characteristic behavior, 5.7% cross-sex behavior. The same figures for girls were 18 and 6%. There were no pattern or percentage differences by race or social status of children. Women teachers gave most of their sex-role connected rewards for feminine behavior to both boys and girls. Men teachers rewarded more equably, masculine behaviors for boys, feminine behaviors for girls. Children rewarded mainly their own sex, and gave rewards for sex characteristic behavior. The pattern was even clearer for boys than for girls. In Discussion, comparisons are made with other somewhat similar studies.     

Peer status and behaviors of maltreated children and their classmates in the early years of school

OBJECTIVE: The aims of the present study were to investigate (1) whether young children with a known history of maltreatment by caregivers have more problematic peer relationships and classroom behaviors than other children, and (2) if children's behaviors with peers mediated associations between maltreatment and children's problem peer relations. METHOD: Participants included 400 young children (ages 4-8, M age=6.6), and 24 teachers in 22 schools. Six percent of children had a known history of maltreatment. Multiple methods (ratings and nominations) and reporters (children and teachers) were utilized to obtain information on peer relationships. Teachers reported children's physical/verbal aggression, and withdrawn and prosocial behaviors. RESULTS: Young children were able to nominate and rate whom they liked versus disliked in their classes, and their reports were modestly correlated with teacher reports. Regardless of the reporter, maltreated children were significantly more disliked, physically/verbally aggressive, withdrawn, and less prosocial, compared with their classmates. Among all children, physical/verbal aggression, withdrawal, and prosocial behavior were associated independently with some aspect of peer status. Maltreatment had indirect associations with peer likeability and peer rejection via maltreated children's relatively higher levels of physical/verbal aggression and, in some cases, withdrawal and relatively lower prosocial behavior. Maltreatment had an indirect association with teacher-reported peer acceptance via children's withdrawal. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indirectly associate early family experiences with problems in peer relationships, especially lower peer likeability and more rejection, via children's behaviors with peers. The finding that linkages exist even in the very earliest years of school highlights the need for very early home- or school-based efforts focused on improving behavior and relationships of maltreated children and others children with similar profiles.     

Multidimensional assessment of emotional and behavioral adjustment problems of low-income preschool children: development and initial validation

The Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention (ASPI) was developed and tested for use in preschool programs serving low-income children. The ASPI is a measure of emotional and behavioral adjustment problems observed within routine classroom situations. Principal components analyses revealed five reliable behavioral dimensions: Aggressive, Withdrawn-Low Energy, Socially Reticent, Oppositional, and Inattentive/Hyperactive and two higher-order dimensions: Overactive and Underactive problem behaviors. Concurrent criterion validity of these dimensions was supported by multivariate indicators of peer social competence and classroom behavior problems. Age and gender analyses indicated that boys showed higher levels of overactive behavior than girls and that younger preschool children evidenced more underactive and inattentive behavior than older preschool children. Situational analyses indicated that situations requiring more initiation and self-regulation were associated with more problematic behaviors.     

小学生社会性适应的性别差异研究

为了考察小学生社会性适应的性别差异,研究选取小学二至六年级的儿童作为被试。采用修订的班级戏剧问卷和同伴提名法对儿童的积极社会行为、攻击冒犯行为、敏感退缩行为、师生关系和同伴接纳程度进行评定。结果发现：在社会行为上,女生表现出更多的积极社会行为和敏感退缩行为,男生则表现出较多的攻击冒犯行为。在师生关系上,女生更容易与教师建立亲密的关系,男生更易与教师建立冲突和依赖的关系。在同伴接纳上,女生受欢迎程度更高、男生受拒绝程度更高。     

儿童青少年的性别平等意识现状调查

本研究选取长春市8所学校的1 527名大、中、小学生为被试,通过自编问卷（性别观念调查问卷）对他们在学校领域、家庭领域、职业领域的性别平等意识进行了调查。结果表明：（1）在发展趋势上,小学生性别平等意识较低,中学阶段性别平等意识有所提高,但在大学阶段又重现下降趋势;（2）在性别差异方面,在各学段女生的性别平等意识显著高于男生,女生性别平等意识初中阶段最强,男生性别平等意识高中阶段最强;（3）在不同领域中,被试在职业领域的性别平等意识最低,家庭和学校领域的性别平等意识显著高于职业领域。根据研究结果,对性别平等教育提出了建议,指出小学和大学阶段是性别平等教育的重要时期,男生群体尤其需要性别平等意识的教育,职业领域的性别平等问题应成为教育重点。     

Social withdrawal,observed peer acceptance,and the development of self-perceptions in children ages 4 to 7 years

Children who think poorly about themselves are considered at-risk for a myriad of negative outcomes. Thus, it is important to explore possible origins of such cognitions, particularly in young children. The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between various nonsocial behaviors (i.e., reticence and social withdrawal), observed peer acceptance at ages 4 and 7 years, and self-perceptions at age 7 years in both boys and girls, respectively.Participants included 163 children (89 females, 74 males) who were seen at age 4 and then again at age 7 years. For girls, results revealed that nonsocial behavior (both reticence and solitary-passive withdrawal) was negatively related to observed peer acceptance at both ages 4 and 7, and peer acceptance, as early as 4 years of age, was found to influence self-perceptions of competence at age 7 years. For boys, results revealed that (a) reticence at age 7 predicted negatively to perceived peer acceptance, perceived physical and perceived cognitive competence at age 7 years, (b) solitary-passive withdrawal at age 4 predicted positive cognitive self-perceptions at age 7, and (c) solitary-passive withdrawal at age 7 predicted negatively to perceived peer acceptance and perceived physical competence at age 7 years.     

Gender differences in motivation and strategy use in science: Are girls rote learners?

This study explored Ridley and Novak's (1983) hypothesis that gender differences in science achievement are due to differences in rote and meaningful learning modes. To test this hypothesis, we examined gender differences in fifth- and sixth-grade students' (N = 213) self-reports of confidence, motivation goals (task mastery, ego, and work avoidance), and learning strategies (active and superficial) in whole-class and small-group science lessons. Overall, the results revealed few gender differences. Compared with girls, boys reported greater confidence in their science abilities. Average-achieving girls reported greater use of meaningful learning strategies than did their male counterparts, whereas low-ability boys reported a stronger mastery orientation than did low-ability girls. The results further showed that students report greater confidence and mastery motivation in small-group than whole-class lessons. In contrast, students reported greater work avoidance in whole-class than small-group lessons. In general, the findings provide little support for Ridley and Novak's hypothesis that girls tend to engage in rote-level learning in science classes. Differences in self-reports of motivation and strategy-use patterns were more strongly related to the student's ability level and to the structure of learning activities (small group vs. whole class) than to gender. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.