The unique contributions of peer acceptance, friendship, and victimization to adjustment were examined. How these relational systems moderate the influence of one another to influence adjustment was also investigated. Friendship quality, a unique aspect of friendship, was expected to be especially important for adjustment when other relational…

This study examined the effects of the Living Skills school-based intervention program as a method of improving school adjustment and the social lives of at-risk elementary school students. Youth participants were referred to the program by teachers or school counselors based on perceptions of risk due to rejection and isolation, aggressive and…

The author investigated the role of individual characteristics (self-esteem, social anxiety, and self-reported classroom participation) and peer reactions (peer-perceived shyness, peer nominations) in classroom loneliness in a sample of 704 preadolescent boys (360) and girls (344). It was hypothesized that classroom participation functions as a…

The extant literature on the social functioning of students with learning disabilities (LD) has indicated that whereas a majority belong to peer groups, a higher proportion are isolated and most have lower social status among peers in general than their typically achieving classmates. Although some work has examined these issues over short-term…

This study asks whether bullies have higher social status than their victims. Social status was measured by social preference, popularity, and physical competence as perceived by children and teachers. A survey instrument was introduced to enable identification of specific victims associated with specific bullies. The sample was 508 fourth and…

Including children with autism in regular classrooms has become prevalent; yet some evidence suggests such placements could increase the risk of isolation and rejection. In this study, we used social network methods to explore the involvement of children with autism in typical classrooms. Participants were 398 children (196 boys) in regular 2nd…

This study explored multifaceted associations between children's aggressive behaviours and loneliness feelings by identifying sub-groups of children with different individual profiles, and also examined whether profiles associated differently with children's quality of close relationships with mothers and peers. Participants were 145 non-clinical…

Changes in feelings of self-worth and peer acceptance associated with self-enhancing perceptions of their peer acceptance were examined for a normative sample and for a group of peer-rejected children. Whether the correlates of self-enhancement differed as a function of the way in which perceptions were assessed (i.e., general versus specific…

The role of peer acceptance, number of mutual friends, and friendship quality in predicting adjustment across the transition from elementary to middle school was examined. Participants were 146 students (68 boys, 78 girls) who participated in the Time 1 (spring of fifth grade) and Time 2 (fall of sixth grade) assessments. Peer acceptance and…

This case study examines José, a bilingual Latino fifth-grader, and his complex and dynamic engagements in "travesuras" (mischievous behaviors). José's "travesuras" served to disassociate him from being labeled a "schoolboy." This disassociation was evident in how José: (1) renounced "school-like" work and…

This paper reports on three studies of shy behavior in Mainland Chinese children. In Study 1 (N = 107, M age = 10.05), a Chinese Shyness Scale (CSS) was developed based on Chinese teachers' open-ended descriptions of children's shy behavior. In Study 2 (N = 388, M age = 10.80) and Study 3 (N = 198, M age = 10.20), the construct validity of the two…

This brief article describes one teacher's experience moving to a new school and the lessons learned from that experience. It touches upon: finding a sense of belonging as a new, yet experienced teacher; creating a balance; and the moment of breakthrough.

It has been proposed that aggressive behavior may result from unrealistically positive self-evaluations that are disputed by others (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996). The present three studies tested this proposition concurrently and longitudinally for the domain of self-perceived social competence (SPSC) in 3-6th grade children on two…

A model linking children's peer acceptance in the classroom to academic performance via academic self-concept and internalizing symptoms was tested in a longitudinal study. A sample of 248 children was followed from 4th to 6th grade, with data collected from different informants in each year of the study to reduce respondent bias. A path analysis…

This study examined who among the 526 fourth to sixth graders are nominated as among the coolest kids in their class. There were two questions: (1) Are popular-aggressive (tough) children nominated as cool by a broad spectrum of their peers, or only by a select few? (2) Does variability in children's cool nominations more closely follow their…