The study investigated the longitudinal relations between students' roles in bullying (i.e., bullying, defending, and victimization) and social status within the class. Moreover, we tested the hypothesis that students' perception of their own status may mediate these relations. A sample of 432 early adolescents completed peer nominations for…

This cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the self-perception of primary school students aged 10-14 and their attitudes toward obese children (n = 693). There was a weak, positive, and highly significant correlation between the mean scores for the overall Attitude Toward Obese Children Scale, the Self-Perception Profile for…

We explored how gender and gender similarity affects friendship dissolution following the transition to middle school. We predicted that both gender and gender similarity (measured by perceived similarity to own-gender and other-gender peers) explain dissolution trends and that less own-gender similarity or more other-gender similarity predicts…

Peer relationships form a key developmental context. The current study investigated differences in peer acceptance between high-ability and average-ability youth, from the perspectives of teachers, peers, and students. Relying on the person-group similarity model, we also tested whether high-ability students' acceptance would depend on the peer…

Two studies investigated the proposition that social achievement goals (different orientations toward social competence) are an important aspect of young adolescents' social motivation. Study 1 (N = 153 6th-grade students) established that different orientations toward developing or demonstrating social competence can be seen in young adolescents'…

A model linking children's peer acceptance in the classroom to academic performance via academic self-concept and internalizing symptoms was tested in a longitudinal study. A sample of 248 children was followed from 4th to 6th grade, with data collected from different informants in each year of the study to reduce respondent bias. A path analysis…

It has been proposed that aggressive behavior may result from unrealistically positive self-evaluations that are disputed by others (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996). The present three studies tested this proposition concurrently and longitudinally for the domain of self-perceived social competence (SPSC) in 3-6th grade children on two…

Several studies suggest that children who chronically underachieve are, like children with learning disorders, at risk for negative outcomes and are more likely to experience adjustment problems than are their typically developing peers. This study compares children's self-esteem, perceived competence, negative perfectionism and beliefs of peer…

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…