Longitudinal and developmental studies of process of changes in peer relations and social skills in children

本研究的主要目的是考察儿童同伴社会地位稳定性与行为特征一致性之间的纵向关系。在研究1中，比较了受欢迎、被拒绝、被忽视、有争议和普通儿童的五个状态组，以检查哪些状态在儿童早期倾向于持续两年以上。在研究5中，追踪了从幼儿园转到小学后一年到五年后的五组幼儿的状况。研究发现，受欢迎和被拒绝儿童的受欢迎和被拒绝状态持续较长时间，而被忽视儿童的状态更有可能在一年后发生变化。在研究3中，儿童早期受欢迎程度的稳定性与行为特征的一致性之间存在联系。行为特征的个体差异通过同伴行为提名和行为观察测量来评估。在研究2和研究4中，研究2和研究4对儿童时期的稳定和不稳定状态组在孤独感和同伴行为评估方面进行了比较，包括社交能力、攻击性和退缩。结果表明，长期的同伴排斥会增加儿童的孤独感，而社交能力的增加和攻击性的增加分别会改善和降低儿童的同伴地位。

The main purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal relations between stability in peer social status and consistency in behavioral characteristics in children. In the study 1, five status groups of popular, rejected, neglected, controversial and average children were compared to examine which status tend to continue over a 2-year period during early childhood. There were significant continuities of popular and rejected status.In the study 5, five status groups of young children were traced from one year to five years later, after children had transferred from kindergarten to elementary school. It was found that status of popular and rejected children continued over a long period of time, whereas status of neglected children was more likely to change after a 1-year period.In the study 3, connections were traced between stability of popularity and consistency in behavioral characteristics during early childhood. Individual differences in behavioral characteristics were assessed with peer behavior nominations and behavioral observation measures. Findings suggested that stability of popularity was associated with increased sociability and decreased aggression.In the study 2 and 4, stable and unstable status groups across a 3-year period in childhood were compared in terms of lonliness and peer behavioral assessments of sociability, aggression, and withdrawal. Results demonstrated that chronicity of peer rejection increased children's loneliness and that an increase in sociability and aggression improved and reduced children's peer status, respectively.