In this study, 33 hearing and 29 deaf preschoolers were observed during outdoor free play at their respective schools over a seven-month period in an effort to determine if their friendships were unstable and transitory. Four issues were addressed: (1) the possibility that maintained and non-maintained friends serve different functions (this was…

Grounding their efforts on results of previous research, investigators have sought to improve peer relationships of unpopular children through direct instruction in social skills. Generally, such interventions have been effective in promoting specific outcomes. For example, skill-training programs improve children's ability to form colleague…

The concurrent and predictive validity of four qualitative behavioral classes of social interaction (initiating and receiving positive and negative social interaction) was investigated using sociometric measures of peer acceptance (ratings) and friendship (nominations). Forty children (18 boys and 22 girls) selected from 14 third- and fourth-grade…

In this study, each of 33 middle class children from grades 3 and 4 was administered one of three experimental conditions designed to test in what ways coaching in social play skills improves the sociometric status of the children with their peers. The subjects were selected because of their low ratings on sociometric questionnaires. Condition 1…

Although foremost among the benefits of cooperative learning is improvement of student academic achievement, additional affective benefits may further convince teachers that the value added by cooperative learning is worth the effort. This study examined the effect of an 8-month cooperative learning intervention on children's friendship choices in…

This study investigated the relation of loneliness in middle childhood to behavioral, sociometric, and attributional measures of social functioning. Data for 128 third- through sixth-graders were collected on three occasions during a 1-year span. Teachers completed a rating scale assessing students' social behavior. Children's peer acceptance was…

The qualities of sibling relationships and friendships of socially accepted and rejected children were compared in a study involving 392 male and 384 female second and third graders. The students completed a series of assessments and their teachers filled out rating scales. Results indicated that sibling status was associated with friendship…

This study examined how parental advice-giving directly and indirectly influences children's quality of friendship with peers. Participating were 66 third graders, their classroom teachers, 66 mothers and 57 fathers, and 66 friends. All but one dyad of the target children and friend were the same gender. Teachers rated target children on peer…

Studies that included either gender or race in assessing the nature of friendships for children and adolescents were reviewed. Findings indicate that a sex and race cleavage in friendships is evident from the preschool years and persists throughout adolescence. Girls have more reciprocated and intimate friendships than boys, especially during…

The most accepted theoretical model for explaining how school desegregation produces academic benefits for minority children assumes that (a) school desegregation generates intergroup and interracial contact which (b) enables the achievement related values possessed by white children to be transmitted to minority students, which in turn (c)…

Adolescents' best friendships are often believed to contribute to their psychosocial adjustment. This study examined the relationship between students' adjustment to school and the positive features, negative features, and frequency of interaction in their friendships. Participating were 106 students, 90 percent of whom were white, in a small…

This study examined the educational and social conditions of 215 hard-of-hearing students (grades 1 to 11) in Sweden, 157 of whom were placed in regular classes, usually as the only hard-of-hearing student in the class. The study interviewed the pupils, surveyed parents and teachers, and conducted a sociometric analysis. Results indicated that the…

Students' relationships with peers is fundamental to their mental health. A 3-month study presented here investigated the nature and frequency of students' self-reported recess problems and the degree to which these were concomitant with two often-used measures of children's social competence: peer acceptance and mutual friendships. Seven specific…

This study compared the social adjustment of abused and nonabused children, ages 4 to 11 years, and examined whether sociometric status and friendship quality differentially predict children's loneliness and teacher ratings of peer behavior. Thirty-five abused children from a structured residential treatment center and 43 nonabused children from…

This document reports findings of two studies on relations between: (1) adolescents' peer relationships and their self-esteem; and (2) adolescents' social status and friendships. Participating in the first study were nearly 300 seventh- and eighth-graders who completed Harter's (1985) Self-Perception Profile for Children. This measure includes…