Social interaction and interpersonal distance in normal and behaviorally disturbed boys.

Frequency of social interaction and interpersonal distance of 24 normal and 24 behaviorally disturbed white, preadolescent boys were examined. Each child's behavior was analyzed from videotapes that were recorded during four 60-min sessions, during which time the child played with the same unfamiliar peer, matched for age and emotional functioning. The results indicated that the frequency of global social interactions was a powerful discriminator between normal and disturbed boys at the older but not at the younger age levels. Proximity to peers and adults also was a powerful discriminator at both age levels. These results were discussed in relationship to the development of social skills in preadolescent children, the need to establish criteria for social competence, and the evaluation of social skills training programs from a development perspective.

Accuracy in nonverbal communication as affected by trait and state anxiety.

66 students from a midwest junior college participated in an investigation of the effects of trait and state anxiety on accuracy in interpreting nonverbal communication. The students were asked in normal and stress-induced settings to decode facial emotions from a series of slides depicting 6 categories of facial expressions. Analysis indicated that low trait-anxious subjects were more accurate in interpreting nonverbal facial expressions in stressful situations, whereas high trait-anxious subjects were superior in nonstressful situations but showed a significant deterioration in accuracy when subjected to situational stress.