Multiple sources of data on social behavior and social status in the school: a cross-age comparison

• Published in: Child development Vol. 59; no. 3; pp. 815 - 829
• Main Authors: Coie, J.D, Dodge, K.A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, MA University of Chicago Press 01.06.1988; Blackwell; University of Chicago Press for the Society for Research in Child Development, etc; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; age differences; Age Factors; Age groups; aggression; Aggression - psychology; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; boys; Child; Child Behavior; Child neglect; Children; Children & youth; Classroom observations; Developmental psychology; elementary education; elementary school children; evaluation; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grade levels; Humans; Male; peer evaluation; Peer Group; peer rejection; Peer relations; peer relationships; Playgrounds; Prosocial behavior; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rejection (Psychology); Social Behavior; Social classes; Social Desirability; Social interaction; social status; student evaluation; Teaching; unbiased observer evaluation; North Carolina; Human; Social development; Social status; Social behavior; Peer relation; Social interaction; Social isolation; Prosocial behavior; Child; School environment
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.2307/1130578

Behavioral data relating to peer social status were collected from peers, teachers, and observers on both first- and third-grade boys (ages 6-7 and 8-9 years, respectively). Peer and teacher ratings had greater intermethod agreement than observer data, although all 3 sources provided evidence that rejected and controversial boys were more aggressive than other boys. However, relatively little aggression was observed among the older boys, indicating that peers and teachers may be better sources of information about aggression in this group. Observational data differentiated among status groups on measures of activity (on task vs. off-task, and prosocial play vs. solitary activity) for both age groups. Rejected boys displayed little prosocial behavior according to peers and teachers, but were not less often engaged in prosocial play, according to observers. Neglected boys were the most solitary group during play; however, teachers rated rejected boys as the most solitary, contrary to observations. Controversial boys were seen as highly aggressive by all sources but as highly prosocial only by peers and observers.