On Deriving Standard Scores for Peer Nominations with Subgroups of Unequal Size

In two independent studies, we aimed to examine the extent to which teacher and peer nominations of loneliness are associated with children’s and adolescents’ self-reported loneliness, respectively. Additionally, we examined whether loneliness nominations from teachers and peers were informative above and beyond peer status and social behaviors associated with loneliness. In Study 1 (N = 1594, Mage = 9.43 years), teacher nominations of loneliness showed a small to moderate correlation with children’s self-reported loneliness as assessed using the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire (LSDQ). The results of a hierarchical regression analysis showed that teacher nominations of loneliness predicted children’s self-reported loneliness above and beyond teacher nominations of peer status and social behaviors. In Study 2 (N = 350, Mage = 13.81 years), peer nominations of loneliness showed a small to moderate correlation with adolescents’ self-reported loneliness as assessed using the peer-related loneliness subscale of the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA). The results of a hierarchical regression analysis showed that peer nominations of loneliness predicted adolescents’ self-reported loneliness above and beyond peer nominations of peer status and social behaviors. We conclude that loneliness nominations are valuable, but caution is needed when they are used exclusively to identify lonely children and adolescents.

Download Full-text

Examining Reciprocal Links between Parental Autonomy-Support and Children’s Peer Preference in Mainland China

Children ◽

10.3390/children8060508 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (6) ◽

pp. 508

Author(s):

Na Hu ◽

Muzi Yuan ◽

Junsheng Liu ◽

Robert J. Coplan ◽

Ying Zhou

Keyword(s):

Middle Schools ◽

Peer Relationships ◽

Autonomy Support ◽

Chinese Culture ◽

Mainland China ◽

Supportive Parenting ◽

Parental Autonomy Support ◽

Parental Autonomy ◽

Peer Preference ◽

Peer Nominations

The present study examined the longitudinal relations between child perceptions of parental autonomy-support and peer preference in mainland China. Participants were N = 758 children (50.8% boys; Mage = 10.78 years, SD = 1.03 at Wave 1; Mage = 11.72 years, SD = 1.11 at Wave 2; Mage = 12.65 years, SD = 0.95 at Wave 3) from elementary and middle schools in Shanghai, P.R. China. Children were followed over three years from Grades 4–6 to Grades 6–8. Each year, children reported their perceived maternal/paternal autonomy-support and peer preference (being well-liked among peers) was measured via peer nominations. Among the results, peer preference positively predicted later perceptions of maternal and paternal autonomy-supportive parenting, whereas autonomy-supportive parenting did not significantly predict later peer preference. Results are discussed in terms of the interactions between parental autonomy-supportive parenting and children’s peer relationships in Chinese culture.

Download Full-text

Adolescent Popularity as a Nonlinear, Two-Dimensional Construct: Convergent Results From Three Large Samples

The Journal of Early Adolescence ◽

10.1177/02724316211016066 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 027243162110160

Author(s):

Peter E. L. Marks ◽

Ben Babcock ◽

Yvonne H. M. van den Berg ◽

Rob Gommans ◽

Antonius H. N. Cillessen

Keyword(s):

Early Adolescents ◽

Composite Score ◽

Two Dimensional ◽

Behavioral Correlates ◽

Large Samples ◽

Three Samples ◽

Peer Nominations

The goal of this study was to advance the conceptualization and measurement of adolescent popularity by exploring the commonly used composite score (popularity minus unpopularity). We used standardized peer nominations from 4,414 early adolescents (ages ≈ 12-14 years) from three samples collected in two countries. Popularity and unpopularity were strongly related, but not linearly; scatterplots of the two variables resembled an L-shaped right angle. Subsequent analyses indicated that either including popularity as a curvilinear term or including both popularity and unpopularity as separate terms explained significantly more variance in social and behavioral correlates than linear, bivariate analyses using popularity, unpopularity, or composite popularity. These results suggest that researchers studying adolescent popularity should either separate popularity and unpopularity or treat composite popularity as curvilinear.

Download Full-text

A comparison of dyadic and social network assessments of peer influence

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025421992866 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 275-288

Author(s):

Dawn DeLay ◽

Brett Laursen ◽

Noona Kiuru ◽

Adam Rogers ◽

Thomas Kindermann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Peer Influence ◽

Mathematical Reasoning ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Relative Strength ◽

Third Grade Students ◽

Social Network Influence ◽

Influence Parameter ◽

Math Reasoning ◽

Peer Nominations

The present study compares two methods for assessing peer influence: the longitudinal actor–partner interdependence model (L-APIM) and the longitudinal social network analysis (L-SNA) Model. The data were drawn from 1,995 (49% girls and 51% boys) third grade students ( M age = 9.68 years). From this sample, L-APIM ( n = 206 indistinguishable dyads and n = 187 distinguishable dyads) and L-SNA ( n = 1,024 total network members) subsamples were created. Students completed peer nominations and objective assessments of mathematical reasoning in the spring of the third and fourth grades. Patterns of statistical significance differed across analyses. Stable distinguishable and indistinguishable L-APIM dyadic analyses identified reciprocated friend influence such that friends with similar levels of mathematical reasoning influenced one another and friends with higher math reasoning influenced friends with lower math reasoning. L-SNA models with an influence parameter (i.e., average reciprocated alter) comparable to that assessed in L-APIM analyses failed to detect influence effects. Influence effects did emerge, however, with the addition of another, different social network influence parameter (i.e., average alter influence effect). The diverging results may be attributed to differences in the sensitivity of the analyses, their ability to account for structural confounds with selection and influence, the samples included in the analyses, and the relative strength of influence in reciprocated best as opposed to other friendships.

Download Full-text

Evidence of gene–environment correlation for peer difficulties: Disruptive behaviors predict early peer relation difficulties in school through genetic effects

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579412000910 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 79-92 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Michel Boivin ◽

Mara Brendgen ◽

Frank Vitaro ◽

Nadine Forget-Dubois ◽

Bei Feng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Factors ◽

Multivariate Analyses ◽

Twin Studies ◽

Disruptive Behaviors ◽

Teacher Ratings ◽

Peer Relation ◽

Gene Environment ◽

Early School ◽

Peer Nominations ◽

Peer Difficulties

AbstractEarly disruptive behaviors, such as aggressive and hyperactive behaviors, known to be influenced by genetic factors, have been found to predict early school peer relation difficulties, such as peer rejection and victimization. However, there is no consensus regarding the developmental processes underlying this predictive association. Genetically informative designs, such as twin studies, are well suited for investigating the underlying genetic and environmental etiology of this association. The main goal of the present study was to examine the possible establishment of an emerging gene–environment correlation linking disruptive behaviors to peer relationship difficulties during the first years of school. Participants were drawn from an ongoing longitudinal study of twins who were assessed with respect to their social behaviors and their peer relation difficulties in kindergarten and in Grade 1 through peer nominations measures and teacher ratings. As predicted, disruptive behaviors were concurrently and predictively associated with peer relation difficulties. Multivariate analyses of these associations indicate that they were mainly accounted for by genetic factors. These results emphasize the need to adopt an early and persistent prevention framework targeting both the child and the peer context to alleviate the establishment of a negative coercive process and its consequences.

Download Full-text

A description and illustration of the Triadic Relations Model: Who perceives whom as bullying whom?

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025410371418 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 34 (4) ◽

pp. 374-383 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Noel A. Card ◽

Philip C. Rodkin ◽

Claire F. Garandeau

Keyword(s):

Peer Relations ◽

Social Relations ◽

Fourth Grade ◽

Social Relations Model ◽

Interpersonal Behaviors ◽

The Social ◽

Peer Nominations ◽

Dyadic Variables

Analyses of children’s peer relations have recently begun considering interpersonal behaviors and perceptions from the perspective of the Social Relations Model. An extension of this model, the Triadic Relations Model (TRM), allows for consideration and analysis of more complex three-person data to understand triadic processes; separate individual, dyadic, and triadic variance; and model co-occurrences among dyadic phenomena. The goal of this article is to provide a didactic introduction to the TRM and its potential for studying peer relations. The TRM is applied to data from nine classes (N = 162) of third and fourth grade boys and girls involving perceptions (peer nominations) of actors’ (aggressors’) behavior toward partners (victims). We report and illustrate interpretation of 7 variance and 16 covariance estimates from this TRM analysis of who perceives whom as bullying whom. In particular, triadic analyses revealed a tendency for children to perceive others as sharing the same aggressors and the same targets for aggression as themselves. We discuss implications of findings for studying aggression, as well as extensions of this model, such as incorporating multiple constructs or connecting the TRM estimates with individual and dyadic variables, and challenges of using the TRM.

Download Full-text

Cheering My Friends Up: The Unique Role of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Strategies in Social Competence

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships ◽

10.1177/02654075211054202 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026540752110542

Author(s):

Kyongboon Kwon ◽

Belén López-Pérez

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Social Competence ◽

Peer Group ◽

Systematic Investigation ◽

Fifth Grade ◽

Affective Engagement ◽

Interpersonal Emotion Regulation ◽

Regulation Strategies ◽

Peer Nominations ◽

Interpersonal Domain

A systematic investigation has been lacking regarding children’s deliberate regulation of others’ emotions which is labeled interpersonal emotion regulation (ER). Based on a theoretically derived model of Interpersonal Affect Classification, we examined children’s interpersonal ER strategy use in the peer group. Participants were 398 fourth and fifth grade children from the Midwestern United States. Children rated themselves regarding their use of intrapersonal and interpersonal ER strategies as well as attention to friends’ emotions. Teacher-report and peer nominations were used to assess social competence regarding prosocial behavior and emotion sharing. Awareness of and attention to friends’ emotions were positively and more strongly associated with interpersonal ER than intrapersonal ER. Children reported affective engagement most strongly followed by humor, cognitive engagement, and attention to improve friends’ feelings. Among the four interpersonal ER strategies, only affective engagement was uniquely associated with social competence; intrapersonal ER was not associated with social competence. The findings support the significance of broadening the focus of ER to the interpersonal domain to promote the development of children’s ER and social competence.

Download Full-text