This study used peer nominations to identify who students ask for help in class. We describe the level of friendship affiliation that students' share with their peer helpers, and their classroom behavior reputations. Participants were 1037 fifth (49%) and sixth (51%) graders with varied gender and ethnic-racial backgrounds (51% girls; 43% White,…

In social groups, such as school-based peer networks, youth often vie for power and dominance over others. Different strategies may be used to gain power (i.e., coercive and/or cooperative strategies), and with varying levels of success. Using a social networks approach, we examined whether and how social network centrality and social network…

Peer nominations and teacher ratings were used to examine age and sex differences in behaviors associated with perceived coolness during middle childhood. Participants were 470 students in Grades 1, 3, and 5. Participants nominated peers whom they perceived as cool; separate scores were calculated for samesex coolness and cross-sex coolness (i.e.,…

We conducted a 14-week experimental study of 2 versions of a relatively comprehensive RC intervention that involved 50 classroom teachers, 15 tutors, and 120 children drawn in equal proportions from grades 3 and 5 in 13 schools in a large urban school district. Students were randomly assigned in equal numbers to the 2 tutoring conditions and a…

This study addressed the moderating role of classroom descriptive norms for overt and relational aggression, social withdrawal, prosocial behavior, and academic reputation in the association of behavior with social preference and popularity in early adolescence. Participants were 1,492 fifth-grade students ([x-bar][subscript age] = 10.6 years,…

While both outsiders and defenders have antibullying attitudes, only defenders have the reputation to defend victims. However, outsiders--despite their reputation of avoiding involvement in bullying--do receive some defender nominations and thus defend victims at least occasionally. This study investigated the relationship between these behavioral…

Children's peer relationships are frequently assessed with peer nominations. An important methodological issue is whether to collect unlimited or limited nominations. Some researchers have argued that the psychometric differences between both methods are negligible, while others have claimed that one is superior over the other. The current study…

Students of color are overrepresented in school disciplinary records nationally, but little is known about how disciplinary disproportionality varies among groups. Classroom observations in 1 elementary school suggested that when Latino students misbehaved, teachers were less inclined to interpret their behavior as problematic and less inclined to…

KIPP Delta College Preparatory School (KIPP: DCPS), an open-enrollment charter school, opened in 2002 in Helena, Arkansas. Since its opening, KIPP: DCPS students have consistently outperformed their peers in the Helena/West Helena School district, and moreover, recent test scores suggest that white students and minority students are achieving at…

We evaluated whether gossip between best friends moderated the relation between anxious withdrawal and friendship quality in early adolescence, using an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model ("APIM," Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006) approach. Participants (n = 256) were 5th and 6th grade young adolescents (actors) and their best friends…