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AbstractModerators of the well‐established association between status and overt and relational aggression were tested in a four‐year longitudinal sample (N = 358) of high school students. Self‐perceptions of popularity were found to moderate the link between actual peer‐perceived popularity and aggression, with adolescents who were both popular and aware of their popular status, scoring highest on peer‐nominated aggression and showing the greatest increases in aggression over time. Self‐perceptions of liking moderated the associations between social preference and aggression as well. Adolescents who saw themselves as disliked were particularly likely to show increases in aggression over time. The moderating effect of self‐perceptions was further moderated by gender in several cases. Findings are discussed in light of Coie's theory of the development of peer status theory. The social‐cognitive elements of high peer status, particularly of perceived popularity, are also highlighted.

AbstractThe goals of this study were to examine children's meta‐perceptions and meta‐accuracy of acceptance and rejection in the peer group, the degree to which these perceptions vary by perceiver sex and sex of the reference group, and the association between these perceptions and children's actual functioning in the peer group. Participants were 644 fourth‐grade children. Meta‐perceptions and meta‐accuracy were derived from sociometric nominations of actual and perceived acceptance and rejection. Children more accurately perceived how they were seen by same‐sex peers than how they were seen by other‐sex peers. They also perceived more rejection than acceptance from other‐sex peers. Meta‐accuracy for rejection was low regardless of the sex of the reference group. Sex of the reference group significantly moderated the association between meta‐perceptions and meta‐accuracy of acceptance and rejection and children's actual peer relationships. These findings indicate the importance of examining these relatively understudied social cognitions in research with children and the importance of taking the sex of the reference group into account in future peer relations studies using peer nomination methods.

AbstractFriendships and peer status play important roles in the social landscape of adolescents and are related to developmental outcomes. Yet, how peer status is related to friendship quality and what role social skills play in this association remains unclear. In this study, we use Actor–Partner Interdependence (Mediation) Modeling (Ledermann, Macho, & Kenny, 2011) to investigate how two forms of peer status, preference and popularity, are related to positive and negative friendship quality in mid‐adolescence. Results show that adolescents who are friends with more preferred (i.e., likeable) and popular adolescents report higher friendship quality. These partner effects were partially mediated by adolescents' own prosocial behavior and their friends' empathy levels. Higher levels of empathy of one's friend and one's own lesser preference for equity explained why adolescents were more satisfied in a friendship with highly preferred (i.e., likeable) adolescents. Interestingly, empathy was not a mediator for the link between friendship quality and popularity. These findings promote a better understanding of the interplay between different levels of social complexity (i.e., individual, dyadic and peer group level) in adolescence.

Peers are a powerful socializing force, especially during adolescence. Whether peer status holds the same meaning, correlates, and consequences for female offenders remains unknown. Using a peer nomination technique in a sample of incarcerated females (N = 86, age 15–24 years), our study is the first to examine the association between peer status and psychopathology in a correctional facility. Results indicated that a key indicator of likeability was prosocial behavior; popularity was related to leadership; and social impact was associated with aggression. Popularity might serve as a buffer against, and social impact as a risk factor for, psychosocial problems. Findings shed light on peer status as a mechanism underpinning female offenders' problem behaviors and an entry point for targeted interventions.

AbstractThis study investigated whether perceived popularity mediates and/or moderates the association between agentic goals and bullying, and whether sociometric popularity mediates and/or moderates the association between communal goals and bullying. Age and gender differences were also examined. Participants were 276 fourth and fifth graders (middle childhood sample) and 196 seventh and eighth graders (early adolescence sample). Peer status and bullying were assessed with sociometric measures, interpersonal goals with self‐reports. The theoretical model included both mediation and moderation effects. An age‐related reversal was found in how status mediated the associations between goals and bullying. Sociometric popularity mediated the association of agentic goals with bullying in middle childhood but of communal goals with bullying in early adolescence. Perceived popularity mediated the association of communal goals with bullying in middle childhood but of agentic goals with bullying in early adolescence. In middle childhood, perceived popularity also moderated the effect of agentic goals on bullying. The results were discussed in terms of the role of bullying as a means to enhance status in early adolescence.

This study examined prospective associations between late adolescents' friendships and substance use (alcohol, marijuana, tobacco) using a stochastic actor‐based modeling approach and the moderating role of popularity. Participants were 450 adolescents (53% female, M age = 15.5 years) who completed surveys in grades 10 and 11. Results of a single multivariate model indicated that peer selection based on similar tobacco use was a more robust predictor of changes in friendship than selection based on similar alcohol and marijuana use; and peer socialization of alcohol use predicted more changes in adolescent‐drinking behaviors. Popularity moderated selection based on alcohol use; popular adolescents were more likely to select friends with high levels of drinking behaviors. Popularity did not moderate peer socialization.

Longitudinal associations between social preference, perceived popularity, and risk behaviors (smoking, alcohol use, and sexual activity) were examined in a sample of high school students. Social preference did not predict any of the risk behaviors assessed, although the interaction between gender and social preference was predictive of sexual behavior. Perceived popularity in Grade 10 was predictive of increased alcohol use and sexual activity in Grade 12 for both boys and girls. A reciprocal relationship was found for boys, in which smoking in Grade 10 also predicted gains in perceived popularity over time. Furthermore, results suggested that gains in perceived popularity may be associated with subsequent losses in social preference over time, lending support for the "cycle of popularity" observed by Eder. Implications are discussed, including the personal impact of risk behaviors on perceived popular teens, as well as the broader influence their behavior may have on their less popular counterparts.

AbstractIn the current study, 95 children of different social status classifications (rejected, neglected, average, and popular) were exposed to hypothetical vignettes designed to assess their 'generalized' rejection sensitivity (GRS) and a mild social rejection experience designed to assess their 'on‐line' rejection sensitivity (ORS). Measures of internalizing and externalizing problems were assessed through a composite of peer‐ , parent‐ , and self‐reports. As expected, sociometric rejection was associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems. More importantly, both types of rejection sensitivity were associated with internalizing and externalizing problems after controlling for the effect of peer rejection. High levels of GRS were associated with more internalizing problems for both boys and girls. In addition, rejection sensitivity emerged as a significant moderator of the relation between rejection and externalizing problems. The nature of the moderating effect varied as function of type of rejection sensitivity and gender. Rejected girls with low GRS and rejected boys with high ORS displayed the highest levels of externalizing behavior problems.

AbstractPeer nominations, a central method for measuring peer relationships in developmental research, typically involve asking children or adolescents to choose peers who fit various criteria from an alphabetized roster of classmates or grade‐mates. Although such measures have been used for decades, very little research has investigated the effects of alphabetical name order on the number of nominations received by peers. This study collected peer nominations for 20 items among 607 eighth grade participants in two schools. Regression analyses showed that earlier name order significantly predicted higher nomination counts for eight of the items, and explained over 5 percent of the variance in four affective variables (friendship, acceptance, acquaintanceship, and received liking). Across variables, name order effects were negatively correlated with internal reliability of nominations, implying that order effects may be related to the consensus of the peer group. Name order also had a minimal effect on inter‐correlations among a subset of variables. Implications and concrete recommendations for controlling and reducing name order effects in future research are discussed.

AbstractThis study examined whether early adolescents' classroom aggression predicted their aggression in a one‐on‐one dyadic setting, and whether early adolescents' classroom victimization predicted their victimization in the dyadic setting. After completing peer nominations for aggression and victimization, 218 early adolescents (M age = 11.0 years) participated in a dyadic paradigm in which they were led to believe that they played against a same‐sex classmate for whom they could set the intensity of noise blasts. Analyses with the actor–partner interdependence model by Olsen and Kenny showed that peer‐nominated physical aggression for boys and relational aggression for girls predicted noise blast aggression in the dyadic setting. For girls but not boys, peer‐nominated victimization predicted victimization in the dyadic setting.

Status among peers likely continues to play a role in social functioning and well-being beyond adolescence. This study examined how emerging adults in tertiary education defined popularity, and their beliefs regarding aggressive and prosocial behaviors affording status. The role of status motivation, own status, and gender in these definitions and beliefs were explored. Emerging adults primarily associated popularity with being central, liked, and respected. Gender prototypical features (attractiveness and likeability for women; power and centrality for men) were associated with high popularity. Compared to adolescence, popularity in emerging adulthood was associated more with likeability and less with attractiveness, power, fitting in, or antisocial behavior. Prosocial behavior, openness, extraversion, and dominance were identified as the most important ways to acquire popularity. The findings indicate that popularity is relevant to emerging adults and offer several directions for future research in order to benefit the social well-being of emerging adults in tertiary education.

AbstractChildren who are more proficient in cooperation with peers tend to be more preferred. To date, the development of peer cooperation has been studied mainly in two research traditions, one focusing on action coordination and the other focusing on interaction quality. Both aspects of cooperation are relevant for children's peer relations, but it is unclear whether both aspects of children's earliest cooperation skills predict their later preference by peers after the transition into organized social groups in school. In this study, we assessed coordination proficiency and interaction quality of 181 Dutch children longitudinally from 2 to 4 years of age. No relation between early action coordination and later preference by peers at school was found. However, especially in girls more affiliative and fewer antagonistic behaviors at the age of two predicted likeability among classmates at school at the age of four. The findings shine new light on the earliest foundations of children's peer evaluations.

AbstractThis study examined the role of friendship jealousy and satisfaction in nine‐year‐old children's observed interactions with their best friends. One hundred five dyads (51 female, 54 male) participated in a 30‐min closed‐field observational setting and reported their jealousy and satisfaction within the friendship. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Model was used to estimate the effects of friendship jealousy and satisfaction on children's own and their friends' behavior. Friends were highly similar in observed behavior and friendship characteristics. Many observed dyadic behaviors were associated with overall levels of jealousy within the friendship, but differences in friendship satisfaction were only predictive of conflict resolution in boys. Children's reports of their friendship jealousy were strongly related to their own behavior in the dyad and the behavior of their best friends. Gender differences were discussed. The results further illustrate the importance of a dyadic perspective on friendship interaction.