Previous work has provided evidence that both merit and social relationships guide resource distribution in children. However, no prior studies have addressed the question of how children as third-party distributors balance the 2 factors when they are in conflict with one another. Two studies tested 7-year-old Chinese children's allocation of 3…

Several authors consider high and frequent conflicts between friends during childhood as a serious risk for subsequent conduct problems such as generalized physical aggression toward others (e.g., Kupersmidt, Burchinal, & Patterson, 1995; Sebanc, 2003). Although it seems logical to assume that friendship conflict could have some negative…

A five-month ethnographic study of friendship development identified major issues in first graders' disputes with friends. Examined consequences of the disputes for children's relationships. Stressed the importance of detailed, historical investigations of specific interactive events for an accurate understanding of human development and…

Studied the role of sociometric status and gender on first-graders' conflict resolution outcomes and compared children's conflict behavior in both mother-child and peer contexts. Found that higher-status children had fewer and shorter disputes, were more likely to invoke skillful verbal resistance strategies, and had more positive affect outcomes…

Examined the effectiveness of a course conducted during the first two weeks of school to teach Russian first graders to cooperate with each other and their teacher. Results indicated that students in the experimental groups improved in terms of their ability to account for partners' actions, initiative, cooperative action, conflict resolution,…

Poor social skills among young elementary school students can result in lack of cooperation with others and an inability to resolve conflicts. This action research project examined the impact of a program for improving social competence through improving listening skills, cooperation, respect for others, and respect for authority. Participating in…

Mediator models were examined in which children's emotional reactions to peer aggression were hypothesized to mediate their selection of coping strategies and subsequent peer victimization and internalizing problems. Self-report data were collected from 145 ethnically diverse kindergarten through fifth grade children (66 females and 79 males) who…