Children's Social Information Processing and Social Behavior in relation to Peer Status

또래지위에 따른 아동의 사회적 정보처리 능력과 사회적 행동 특성

This study was designed to test the differences in children's social information-processing patterns and bahavioral characteristics among four different groups of peer status, and to evaluate the predictability of peer status from social information-processing and social behavior. In addition, age and sex differences were assessed. The subjects were 80 boys and 80 girls identified as popular, average, neglected, and rejected by their peers in the first and the third grade. They responded to a sociometric test and three hypothetical social dilemmas, while behavioral characteristics were rated by their teachers. The data were analyzed by ANOVAs, and discriminant analyses. The results showed that children's social information-processing patterns were not significantly different by peer status except the number of interventions requested. Whereas children's behavioral characteristics were different by peer status in all of the four domains. Children's social information-processing patterns and behavioral characteristics were different in part by age and sex. The important predictors of peer status were hyperactive-distractive, anxious-withdrawn, sociable-prosocial behaviors, and the number of interventions requested.