Social Reputation and Peer Relationships in Chinese and Canadian Children: A Cross-cultural Study

Abstract

480 children in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China, and 296 children in Southern Ontario, Canada, aged 8 and 10 years, were administered the Revised Class Play and a sociometric nomination measure. Factor analyses of the Revised Class Play items resulted in 3 orthogonal factors in each of the Chinese and the Canadian samples; the factor structure in the Canadian sample was somewhat more similar than that of the Chinese sample vis-a-vis the original factor structure. The variables that were formed by the same items loading on each factor in both samples were labeled (a) “sociability-leadership,” (b) “aggression-disruption,” and (c) “shyness-sensitivity.” Consistent with the Western literature extant, it was found that sociability-leadership was positively correlated with peer acceptance and the aggression-disruption was positively correlated with peer rejection in both the Chinese and Canadian children. Shyness-sensitivity was significantly and negatively correlated with measures of peer acceptance in the Canadian sample. Inconsistent with Western results, it was found that items describing shyness-sensitivity were separated from items assessing isolation in the factor structure for the Chinese sample. Shyness-sensitivity was positively associated with sociability-leadership and with peer acceptance in the Chinese sample.