Peer social status and reports of children's adjustment by their teachers, by their peers, and by their self-ratings

Abstract

By a peer nomination procedure, 238 pupils in Grades 3–5 were identified as one of five social status types: popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average. Status group differences among teachers' reports, peers' reports, and children's self-reports of adjustment were examined. The results were consistent with previous studies in that rejected children were viewed as exhibiting significantly more classroom and peer-related behavior problems than any of the other status groups, and popular children were viewed as the most well-adjusted. Adjustment problems for neglected children were limited to peers' reports that these children lacked group cooperation and leadership abilities. Controversial children performed well academically and were viewed by peers as possessing simultaneously strong positive and negative interpersonal skills. This pattern of status group differences was consistent across raters (teacher, peers, self) and across various characteristics (gender, grade level, geographic location, race). Thus, these results add further validity to this peer nomination method of identifying specific peer social status groups.