| Abstract: | Proposes that social status is a function of both individual and group characteristics and argues that 2 factors are necessary to predict peer popularity—prosocial interaction and person–group similarity. Prosocial behavior, viewed as a prerequisite for high social status, was predicted to be consistently correlated with status across peer groups. The relation between status and other social behaviors such as aggression was predicted to be mediated by the degree of similarity between the individual and the peer group. Two studies were conducted with 217 males (mean age 10 yrs) at a summer program for children with behavioral and social problems. Data from both acceptance and rejection measures of status support the proposed model. This evidence helps to integrate discrepant findings in the sociometric literature and demonstrates the utility of social psychological theories of interpersonal attraction in the study of peer status. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
