Assessment of the correlates of sociometric status in children: behavioral, cognitive, peer perception and age differences

Sociometric status in childhood, despite its predictive validity, remains determinants.The relatively poorly understood construct with regard to its aim of the present study was to attempt a better understanding. Like most research studies, for every question answered, several were raised. Results of the present study indicated that, undoubtedly, an interaction of factors relate to sociometric standing. These include behavioral and cognitive skills as well as personal attributes such as athletic ability and physical attractiveness. The direction of these relationships remains unanswered. Exemplary of this causal confusion is the finding from this and other studies of a positive relationship between various cognitive social skills and popularity. This relationship has been demonstrated most reliably with withdrawn children. However, it is unclear whether cognitive skill deficits discourage interaction or whether reluctance to engage in social interaction impedes the development of social understanding. With this, as with other variables, it is likely best represented as a transactional model. Hence, acceptance by peers for whatever reason encourages, through social reinforcement, continued pursuit in that and other dimensions which, in turn, facilitate increased skill. Further, the importance of many of these dimensions varies with age and sex.

Results of the present study partially replicated previous findings of the importance of peer behavior to sociometric status. However, the finding of a positive relationship between popularity and peer initiated negative interactions underscored the importance of differentiating rejected and neglected subgroups of unpopular children. For treatment studies, the accurate identification of these subgroups as well as the development of different treatment programs for withdrawn versus aggressive children is indicated. Although the results of the present study indicated that unpopular children, as a whole, demonstrated poorer skills in social perception, findings from previous studies, coupled with the small magnitude of difference in present findings, suggest that these skills may vary according to the type of unpopular child. Further, it appears that the importance of these cognitive skills is age dependent.

Future research in the area of sociometric status should continue to focus on the identification of behaviors, cognitive skills, and personal attributes associated with peer popularity. Rejected and neglected children should be considered as significantly different subgroups of unpopular children. Finally, it is recommended that future research focus on developing more refined and standardized procedures for measuring affective social perception skills since this appears to be a fruitful and relatively unexplored area in relation to sociometric status.