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 [approximately equal to] 12-14 years) from three samples collected in two countries. Popularity…

Two studies examine the convergence between measures of friendship and measures of liking in the assessment of friendship and peer acceptance. In the first study, 551 (301 boys and 250 girls) Canadian primary school children (ages 8-11) nominated friends and liked-most classmates. In the second study, 282 (127 boys and 155 girls) US primary school…

This research evaluated the role of high-status peers in youth's academic engagement. Youth (mean age = 12.7 years) in the United States and China (N = 934) made social status (i.e., sociometric popularity, perceived popularity, and admiration) nominations of their peers in the fall and spring of their first year of middle school. They also…

In peer nomination research, individuals who do not provide nominations (nonparticipants) are often included on rosters as potential nominees. This can present ethical questions regarding informed consent, but psychometric consequences of excluding nonparticipants from rosters are unknown. In this investigation, Study 1 simulated both random and…

High social status youth are often influential in the peer system. Thus, they may serve as agents of cultural socialization if they exhibit characteristics that reflect cultural values (e.g., interdependence). This research examined the behavior that contributes to high social status in the United States and China. At each of 3 waves, 934 early…

A self-report assessment scale of school connectedness was validated in this study based on the data from middle-school children in a northeastern state of the United States (n = 145). The scale was based on the School Bonding Model (Morita, 1991), which was derived reductively from the social control (bond) theory (Hirschi, 1969). This validation…

This report, the first in a series of four 1996 releases of students' opinions, represents a continued effort by MetLife to provide insight and understanding to the issues of violence and social tension in American public schools. The survey focuses on the social climate of the nation's public schools from the perspective of public school students…