Abstract
MARKELL, RICHARD A., and ASHER, STEVEN R. Children's Interactions in Dyads: Interpersonal Influence and Sociometric Status. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 1412-1424. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether unpopular children exhibit a bossy interpersonal style in a problem-solving situation. Accordingly, a detailed sequential category coding system was constructed, focusing on patterns of influence among children. Sociometric measures were used to pair 44 thirdand fourth-grade children into 22 dyads. Half of the dyads contained a popular child and an average-status child. The other half contained an unpopular child and an averagestatus child. Dyads were videotaped interacting in a structured problem-solving task for 12 min. The new coding system proved reliable for describing details of interactive behavior. Analyses of interaction patterns, including a new method of data analysis based on the Mantel-Haenszel x2 procedure, revealed relatively little bossy behavior in either type of dyad. However, unpopularaverage dyads showed greater asymmetry in influence and less cohesiveness and comfort than popular-average pairs. They also exhibited more problems in following the task rules. The results are discussed in relation to theories of classroom social structure.
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