Teachers’ goals and strategies for classroom seating arrangements: a qualitative study

Education and Child Studie

Social anxiety and perceptions of likeability by peers in children

The current study aimed to investigate the discrepancy between self-reported and peer-reported likeability among children, and the relation with social anxiety, depression, and social support. In total, 532 children between 7 and 12 years completed questionnaires about social anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and social support, estimated their own likeability, and indicated how much they liked their classmates. Children with higher levels of social anxiety or depression overestimated their likeability less or even underestimated their likeability. Social anxiety symptoms, but not depressive symptoms, were significant predictors of the discrepancy. Social support was positively related to likeability and negatively related to social anxiety, but did not moderate the association between social anxiety symptoms and perception accuracy of likeability. These results are in line with cognitive theories of childhood social anxiety, and they stress the importance of using multi-informant measures when studying the relation between social anxiety and social functioning in children

Implicit processes in peer relations: Effects of popularity and aggression

Contains fulltext : 102616.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 21 december 2012Promotor : Cillessen, A.H.N. Co-promotor : Karremans, J.C.T.M.184 p

Alle ogen gericht op de populaire klasgenoot

Het advies 'eerst denken dan doen' heb je vast wel eens voorbij horen komen. Het laat zien dat mensen regelmatig overgaan tot actie zonder dat ze hier heel bewust van zijn, of bewust bij hebben stilgestaan. Onbewuste processen spelen een grote rol in de manier waarop volwassenen met elkaar omgaan. Verrassend genoeg is naar onbewuste processen in sociale relaties tussen kinderen nog nauwelijks onderzoek gedaan. Dit terwijl deze onbewuste processen bij kinderen misschien nog wel een grotere rol spelen in hoe ze met elkaar omgaan dan bij volwassenen. In mijn onderzoek heb ik me daarom gericht op de rol van onbewuste processen in hoe kinderen met hun klasgenoten omgaan

Burn! How implicit and explicit evaluation predict early adolescents' "hot sauce" aggression towards classroom peers

Item does not contain fulltextThe current study examined to what extent early adolescents' implicit and explicit evaluations of a classmate predict (a) their own aggressive behavior toward that classmate and (b) their classmate's aggressive behavior toward them. Implicit and explicit peer evaluations were assessed among 148 early adolescents (78 boys and 70 girls; Mage = 11.1 years) with an approach-avoidance task and a likeability rating. Adolescents' aggression was measured by the number of grams of hot sauce administered to the peer in a "taste test". The analyses with the actor-partner interdependence model showed that girls' implicit attitude predicted aggression toward their partner and that boys' implicit attitude predicted their partner's aggression toward them. Explicit attitudes did not predict "hot sauce" aggression. The current study demonstrates that implicit evaluation of a peer can in fact be even more impactful than explicit evaluation in social interactions among peers.10 p

How popularity goal and popularity status are related to observed and peer-nominated aggressive and prosocial behaviors in elementary school students

Whereas previous research with secondary school students has demonstrated that popularity goals and actual popularity status are related to peer-reported aggression, it is unclear whether this is already the case in the upper grades of elementary school. The current study extends previous research by assessing elementary school students, focusing on both aggressive and prosocial behaviors, and importantly by observing aggressive and prosocial behaviors in cooperative and competitive small-group settings. Participants were 173 Dutch fifth- and sixth-grade students (58.2% girls; Mage = 11.11 years, SD = 0.72), who self-reported popularity goals and nominated peers for popularity, aggressive behavior, and prosocial behavior. Participants' behavior in a cooperative task and a competitive task, completed in groups of 4, was observed. Results show that popularity goal was related to high levels of aggression according to peers (only for boys) and to low levels of prosocial behavior across reporters and settings. Actual popularity status was related to high levels of strategic aggression across reporters and settings and additional high levels of strategic prosocial behavior in a cooperative setting. Thus, the current study demonstrates that popularity goal is already related to social behavior in elementary school and that desired and actual popularity are not only predictive of the behavior as perceived by peers but also predictive of observed behaviors during group interactions

Why does decreased likeability not deter adolescent bullying perpetrators?

This study examines why the lower likeability of bullying perpetrators does not deter them from engaging in bullying behavior, by testing three hypotheses: (a) bullying perpetrators are unaware that they are disliked, (b) they value popularity more than they value likeability, (c) they think that they have nothing to lose in terms of likeability, as they believe that their targets and other classmates would dislike them anyway, regardless of their behavior. The first two hypotheses were examined in Study 1 (1,035 Dutch adolescents, M age = 14.15) and the third hypothesis was examined in Study 2 (601 Dutch adolescents, M age = 12.92). Results from regression analyses showed that those higher in bullying were not more likely to overestimate their likeability. However, they were more likely than others to find being popular more important than being liked. Moreover, those higher in bullying were more likely to endorse the belief that the victimized student or the other classmates would have disliked a bullying protagonist (in vignettes of hypothetical bullying incidents) before any bullying started. These findings suggest that adolescent bullying perpetrators may not be deterred by the costs of bullying in terms of likeability, possibly because they do not value likeability that much (Hypothesis 2), and because they believe they hardly have any likeability to lose (Hypothesis 3)

Peer status in emerging adulthood: Associations of popularity and preference with social roles and behavior

Item does not contain fulltextAlthough peer status has been studied extensively in childhood and adolescence, little is known about social status in peer groups of emerging adults. The current study filled this gap by testing whether preference and popularity are distinct dimensions of peer status and uniquely associated with social behavior in emerging adulthood. Participants were 235 18- to 25-year-old emerging adults in a professional college who completed a sociometric instrument. Popularity and preference were moderately correlated. Both types of status were positively related to prosocial leadership and negatively to social exclusion. Popularity was positively related to dominant leadership and relational aggression, whereas preference was negatively related to relational aggression. The results were compared with findings in adolescence and their generalizability to emerging adults in other social contexts was discussed.19 p