This study examines the relationships between peer victimization, peer relations and depression among adolescents, with a focus on the moderating roles of peer rejection, peer acceptance and reciprocal friendships on the association between peer victimization and depression. A sample of 605 adolescents (average age 13.5 years) completed measures…

Although children with Williams syndrome (WS) are strongly socially motivated, many have friendship difficulties. The parents of 21 children with WS and 20 of the children themselves participated in a semi-structured interview about the children's friendships. Parents reported that their child had difficulties sustaining friendships and low levels…

Persistence across undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs is exceptionally low. Recent studies have shown that social support and sense of belonging are particularly important for students who are historically underrepresented in STEM, yet few interventions have directly targeted or investigated these…

This research aimed to determine whether the Making Friends (MF) program is effective on social acceptance levels of typically developing children in preschool toward their peers with special needs. The research had an experimental design with a control group, pretest, posttest, and follow-up test. The study included 130 typically developing…

Students' sense of belonging impacts their affect, motivation, well-being, and academic success. Sense of belonging is considered context-dependent as what determines one's belonging differs across contexts. This study explores how sense of belonging manifests among post-secondary, introductory chemistry students. This context is important given…

The present study sought to investigate the friendship formation of ethnic in-and out-group friendships, as well as differences in stability and quality, while accounting for the network structure (such as the tendency to befriend friends of friends). We analyzed longitudinal data from 770 students from 42 Austrian primary school classes collected…

Peer rejections impair children's well-being in ECEC, impede their social and emotional development, and increase the risk of multiple forms of peer adversities. This study explores children's need for empathy when experiencing rejections from peers in free play situations in ECEC. The data were collected through video-recorded dialogical…

Reviews concerning the enhancement of preschool children's social competencies reveal areas within which teacher approach, definitions of social competence and methods of study can be enhanced. In response, teachers and researchers co-developed and introduced a peer-based relational intervention to support children's communication, empathic…

Introduction: Paving the way towards inclusive education, it is essential to aim for positive social outcomes for all students, including cultivating a positive self-concept and fostering acceptance and friendships with peers. Although self-concept, acceptance and friendships are interrelated, research focussing on the relationship between these…

Changing attitudes towards disabilities have resulted in corresponding transformations in social justice and human rights issues that have led to an increase in inclusive education practices across the world and a corresponding change in emphasis to address social inclusion of students with disability in the inclusive classroom. Research indicates…

The scope of this study was to discriminate factors, which could improve students' social relationships in kindergarten classrooms. In this research, 147 volunteer children participated, 67 female students and 80 male students. Every student was between 4.5 and 5.5 years old and they were all attending urban public kindergarten located in central…

This study explored the moderating influence of empathy on agreeableness in interpersonal relationships among Chinese college students. Surveys and tests were conducted among a representative sample of 834 college students from four universities in Yunnan, China. Structural equation models were used to test causality and moderation. Support was…

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…

People with intellectual disabilities often face discriminatory behaviour in everyday life. The aim of this qualitative study was to gain insight into experiences of discrimination of people with intellectual disabilities. The research participants were 25 people with mild intellectual disabilities who live in Zagreb, Croatia. Their experiences…

Previous research has shown that group processes are particularly pertinent to children's bullying, and who they socially exclude and include. This paper looks at how children's responses to social exclusion change according to their friends' group-based emotions. Children aged 8-11 years (N = 77) read stories about a friendship group to which…