Behavioral Antecedents of Peer Social Status

Abstract

DODGE, KENNETH A. Behavioral Antecedents of Peer Social Status. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1983, 54, 1386-1399. The goal of this study was to observe the development of sociometric status in children's peer groups over time. 48 previously unacquainted second-grade boys were brought together in 6 play groups of 8 boys each. Play groups met under supervision for 1 hour per session for 8 sessions in a single room. Observers recorded the free-play interactive behaviors of each boy using a complex event-recording system developed for the investigation. Video cameras also recorded boys' behaviors for later analysis. At the conclusion of the eighth session of each play group, sociometric interviews were conducted with each boy. Status groups of popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average boys were identified according to previously established criteria. The behaviors of these groups were analyzed in an effort to determine the behavioral antecedents of peer status. Boys who became rejected or neglected were those who engaged in inappropriate behaviors. They socially approached peers quite frequently, particularly in early sessions, but were rebuffed at relatively high rates in those approaches. Rejected boys engaged in physical aggression more than any other group. Popular boys refrained from aggression and were received quite positively by the peers whom they approached. Controversial boys engaged in high frequencies of both prosocial and antisocial behaviors. The data thus pointed toward the critical roles of social approach patterns and peer-directed aggression in determining peer status.