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…

Socialization among aggressive friends is believed to play a critical role in the development of aggressive behavior. This study examined the moderating effect of norm salience in the classroom on the association between reciprocal friends' and children's own physical, relational, and general aggression. A total of 713 children (M = 10.32 years,…

Research suggests that attitudes of typically developing children towards intellectual disability (ID) play an important role in the social integration and acceptance of children with IDs. To date, however, few studies have investigated children's attitudes towards ID. The primary objective of this study was to examine the cognitive, affective,…

In this study, we sought to create and validate a brief measure to assess students' perceptions of kindness in school. Participants included 1,753 students in Grades 4 to 8 attending public schools in a large school district in southern British Columbia. The School Kindness Scale (SKS) demonstrated a unidimensional factor structure and adequate…

The authors hypothesized that a social and emotional learning (SEL) program involving mindfulness and caring for others, designed for elementary school students, would enhance cognitive control, reduce stress, promote well-being and prosociality, and produce positive school outcomes. To test this hypothesis, 4 classes of combined 4th and 5th…

The current study examined social dominance and peer victimization as possible intervening and moderating variables of the association between peer liking and relational aggression because previous findings suggest that social dominance and peer victimization are important for predicting the acceptableness and success of aggression. A total of 367…

This paper reports results from two studies aimed at examining whether perception of social acceptance and actual social acceptance differ according to the presence of an illusion of scholastic incompetence. Results of both studies conducted in Belgium and in Quebec (respectively 179 and 543 participants) show that children's illusion of…

A group of 91 fifth and sixth graders kept diaries of liked and disliked peer behaviors and important peer activities for a week. Another group of 81 fifth and sixth graders rated the importance and prevalence of each activity and indicated most liked and disliked positive and negative behaviors. Three main functions were evident. (RH)

This study examined social and personal concomitants of exceptional academic capability, specifically self-concept, peer acceptance, and attitude toward school, in the context of integrated or self-contained classrooms. The sample consisted of 354 gifted Ontario students from Grades 5, 8, and 10 (150 in self-contained classrooms and 204 in…

Predictive links between social difficulties in early childhood and problems in middle childhood were examined. Peer, teacher, and self-assessments of behaviors and difficulties were obtained. Early peer rejection and aggression predicted later externalizing difficulties. Early poor peer acceptance, social isolation, and social incompetence…

This study examined whether children's psychosocial self-evaluations mediated the relationship between general academic self-concept and self-reported depression. Self-evaluations in three psychosocial domains were assessed: General self-worth, intellectual ability, and social acceptance. Results indicated three significant findings. First, a…