Variations in patterns of attraction to same- and other-sex peers during early adolescence.

Differences in attraction to same- and other-sex peers as a function of sex, age, individual characteristics (i.e., aggression), and context were examined in a longitudinal study of early adolescent boys and girls (N = 217) that covered the transition from elementary school (Time 1) to middle school (Times 2 and 3). Consistent with T. Moffitt's (1993) concept of the "maturity gap," attraction to aggressive peers, especially attraction to aggressive boys among girls, increased with age and upon entry to middle school, as did attraction to peers who stood out in the peer group in easily observable ways. Attraction to peers who presented features associated with good classroom-based behavior decreased. These patterns are discussed in terms of the developmental needs served by associating with particular peers.

Preadolescent friendship and peer rejection as predictors of adult adjustment.

Although peer-rejected children appear to be at risk for later difficulties, the contribution of preadolescent friendship to adaptive adjustment lacks an empirical foundation. In this 12 year follow-up investigation, 30 young adults who had a stable, reciprocal best friend in fifth grade and 30 who had been chumless completed measures of adjustment in multiple domains. Friendship and peer rejection were found to have unique implications for adaptive development. Lower levels of preadolescent peer rejection uniquely predicted overall life status adjustment, whereas friended preadolescents had higher levels of general self-worth in adulthood even after controlling for perceived competence in preadolescence. In contrast, peer rejection and the absence of friendship were both associated with psychopathological symptoms in adulthood, although neither was uniquely predictive of symptomatology.

Children's peer relations: a meta-analytic review of popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average sociometric status.

Two-dimensional sociometric models have had a critical role in the investigation of children's peer relations in the past decade. In a meta-analysis, fitting categorical models (Hedges, 1982), sociometric group differences on behavioral and information source typologies were assessed. The broad-band behavioral analysis showed that popular children's array of competencies makes them likely recipients of positive peer nominations, whereas high levels of aggression and withdrawal and low levels of sociability and cognitive abilities are associated with rejected peer status. A consistent profile marked by less sociability and aggression emerged for neglected status. Controversial children had higher aggressive behavior than rejected children but compensated for it with significantly better cognitive and social abilities. The moderator effects of narrow-band behavioral categories and information source were also examined.

Psychosocial effects of juvenile rheumatic disease. The family and peer systems as a context for coping.

The psychosocial effects of juvenile rheumatic diseases and disease activity were examined among 24 children and their families (12 children with a rheumatic disease and 12 children with no chronic illness). Each child with rheumatic illness was paired with a healthy control child nominated by their classroom teacher. Family and child functioning was assessed through measures of competence, coping, and adjustment and through direct observation of social functioning with peers at school. Multivariate and univariate analyses were performed to examine scores on the assessment measures, percentages of time spent in peer activities, and frequency scores for types of peer interactions. The results of these analyses indicated that juvenile rheumatic disease (JRD) is not associated with detrimental psychosocial outcomes. Instead, the results indicated that JRD children and their families actively utilize multiple coping strategies. These findings stress the importance of including and examining the family and peer systems as contexts for coping in future research.

Initial dyadic peer interaction of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and normal boys.

The present study assessed the frequency and patterns of play duration and verbal behavior of medicated attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) boys in an initial social encounter with a normal, same-age peer. Eight pairs each of previously unacquainted ADHD/normal boys and normal/normal boys were videotaped as they interacted in a free-play setting (N = 32). The ADHD/normal dyads engaged in more solitary play and less associative play than the normal/normal dyads. Sequential analyses of the ADHD/normal dyads' play patterns revealed that they had problems in their progression along the play hierarchy, in sustaining associative play, and in avoiding withdrawal after rough and tumble play. In comparison to the normal/normal dyads, the ADHD/normal dyads also differed in the quality of verbal interaction as seen in their lower levels of verbal reciprocity and affective expression. Process explanations for the problems ADHD boys display in an initial social encounter and the implications of these difficulties for diminished socialization opportunities were discussed.

The stability and coherence of aggregated and single-item measures of antisocial behaviour.

Aggregated and single-item measures of antisocial behaviour taken from a one-year longitudinal study of early adolescents (N = 334) were examined according to their consistency across situations and the degree of coherence among them. To assess the extent to which differences between single-item scores and aggregated scores could be attributed to differences in reliability, comparisons were made with scores that were either corrected or uncorrected for measurement error. Consistent with predictions derived from Rushton & Erdle (1987), both consistency and coherence increased as the number of items contributing to a score increased. However, as expected in light of the arguments of Campbell, Muncer & Bibel (1987), these increases appeared to be primarily due to higher reliability in the multiple item scores. Nevertheless, some increases in consistency and coherence remained after the effects of measurement error had been accounted for, thus indicating that the higher degree of consistency in aggregated scores cannot be due solely to their higher reliability. These results are important as they demonstrate that, relative to single-item scores, aggregated scores provide a more consistent index of antisocial tendencies regardless of whether the effects of measurement error have been taken into account. Practical and theoretical issues regarding the use of single-item and aggregated scores to represent behavioural constructs are discussed.

Children's perceptions of peer reputations and their social reputations among peers.

The influence of social and cognitive developmental processes on the construction of social reputation was assessed by having first-, third-, and fifth-grade (mean age of 7-0, 8-11, and 10-11, respectively) boys and girls (N = 182), identified as to sociometric status, provide free descriptions of their classmates. These descriptions were aggregated by subject (descriptions made by a child) and by target (descriptions made about a child). Discriminant analyses revealed that rejected children were segregated from their peers by negative attitudes and peer ostracism; this social reputation was more distinct for older rejected children than younger rejected children. In contrast, neglected children were perceived in less distinctive reputational terms but, unlike rejected children, were notable for perceiving peers differently. Older children were more likely than younger children to describe the reputations of their peers with complex trait concepts. Sex differences included the following: rejected boys were perceived as having characteristics polar opposite to accepted qualities for girls, whereas rejected girls were perceived as having characteristics polar opposite to acceptable qualities for boys. The social implications of cognitive developmental change and the developmental implications of social differentiation among peers were discussed.

The initial social encounters of high and low social effectiveness school-aged children.

The initial social encounters of 30 pairs of unacquainted high/high, high/low, and low/low popularity status third- and fourth-grade boys and girls were observed in an analogue free-play setting. Pairwise comparisons revealed that the dyads did not differ according to pairing on the exchange of global play information. The low/low popularity dyads, as compared to the high/high and the high/low popularity dyads, exchanged significantly less personal information as indexed by both the patterns and the content of personal information exchange. Analyses revealed no differences between the high/high and high/low dyads on the patterns and content of personal information exchange. However, as compared to the high/high dyads, the high/low dyads and the low/low dyads were less likely to evidence a pattern of initial steps in their social encounters that began with greeting and introduction and that was followed by the exchange of play information. The observations of the high/high dyads were considered as a model for developing social skills training programs designed to facilitate acquaintanceship development, and the need for further research on the processes underlying peer pairing and the components of social skillfulness was discussed.

A longitudinal study of the utility of social preference and social impact sociometric classification schemes.

The stability of standard score and probability method sociometric group assignments was examined over a 2-year period with an initial group of 334 preadolescents. The popular, neglected, and controversial sociometric groups evidenced low stability of group membership over intervals of approximately 1, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months; the rejected group evidenced slightly higher short-term stability. These findings of limited stability were attributed to measurement error and to the failure of both classification systems to identify groups with homogeneous social reputation profiles. Social role scores contributed to the prediction of stable group membership in the rejected and controversial classification, although these scores added little to the prediction of stable popular and neglected group membership. Stability over short intervals could be used to enhance the prediction of stability over longer periods; however, this procedure resulted in the classification of numerous false positives and false negatives. The instability of sociometric group assignments completed with the standard score and probability methods indicates that researchers should be cautious about the use of classifications based on only one data collection and that the selection of children for both clinical intervention and further nomothetic research may require alternative assessment procedures.