Steven R. Asher

Peer relations and later personal adjustment: are low-accepted children at risk?

In this review, we examine the oft-made claim that peer-relationship difficulties in childhood predict serious adjustment problems in later life. The article begins with a framework for conceptualizing and assessing childrens peer difficulties and with a discussion of conceptual and methodological issues in longitudinal risk research. Following this, three indexes of problematic peer relationships (acceptance, aggressiveness, and shyness/withdrawal) are evaluated as predictors of three later outcomes (dropping out of school, criminality, and psychcpathology). The relation between peer difficulties and later maladjustment is examined in terms of both the consistency and strength of prediction. A review and analysis of the literature indicates general support for the hypothesis that children with poor peer adjustment are at risk for later life difficulties. Support is clearest for the outcomes of dropping out and criminality. It is also clearest for low acceptance and aggressiveness as predictors, whereas a link between shyness/withdrawal and later maladjustment has not yet been adequately tested. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the implicit models that have guided past research in this area and a set of recommendations for the next generation of research on the risk

Friendship and Friendship Quality in Middle Childhood: Links With Peer Group Acceptance and Feelings of Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction

The distinction between friendship adjustment and acceptance by the peer group was examined. Third- through 5th-grade children (N = 881) completed sociometric measures of acceptance and friendship, a measure of loneliness, a questionnaire on the features of their very best friendships, and a measure of their friendship satisfaction. Results indicated that many low-accepted children had best friends and were satisfied with these friendships. However, these childrens friendships were lower than those of other children on most dimensions of quality. Having a friend, friendship quality, and group acceptance made separate contributions to the prediction of loneliness

Peer rejection in childhood

Introduction 1. Recent advances in the study of peer rejection S. R. Asher Part I. Behavioural Characteristics of Peer Rejected Children: 2. Peer group behavior and social status J. D. Coie, K. A. Dodge and J. Kupersmidt 3. Childrens entry behavior M. Putallaz and A. Wasserman 4. Preschoolers behavioral orientations and patterns of peer contact: predictive of peer status? G. R. Ladd, J. M. Price and C. H. Hart Part II. Parent-Child Relations and Peer Rejection: 5. Social withdrawal in childhood: developmental pathways to peer rejection K. H. Rubin, L. J. Lemare and S. Lollis 6. Parent-child interaction M. Putallaz and A. H. Heflin Part III. Social-Cognitive Process: 7. Issues in social cognition and sociometric status K. A. Dodge and E. Feldman 8. Reputational bias: view from the peer group S. Hymel, E. Wagner and L. J. Butler Part IV. Consequences of Peer Rejection: 9. Peer rejection and loneliness in childhood S. R. Asher, J. T. Parkhurst, S. Hymell and G. A. Williams 10. The role of poor peer relationships in the development of disorder J. Kupersmidt, J. D. Coie and K. A. Dodge Part V. Issues in Intervention Research: 11. Adapting intervention to the problems of aggressive and disruptive rejected children J. D. Coie and G. K. Koeppl 12. Toward the development of successful social skill training for preschool children J. Mize and G. W. Ladd Conclusion: 13. Toward a theory of peer rejection J. D. Coie.

Loneliness in children.

ASHER, STEVEN R.; HYMEL, SHELLEY; and RENSHAW, PETER D. Loneliness in Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 1456-1464. Children experiencing difficulties in their peer relations have typically been identified using external sources of information, such as teacher referrals or ratings, sociometric measures, and/or behavioral observations. There is a need to supplement these assessment procedures with self-report measures that assess the degree to which the children themselves feel satisfaction with their peer relationships. In this study, a 16-item self-report measure of loneliness and social dissatisfaction was developed. In surveying 506 thirdthrough sixth-grade children, the measure was found to be internally reliable. More than 10% of children reported feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction, and childrens feelings of loneliness were significantly related to their sociometric status. The relationship of loneliness and sociometric status to school achievement was also examined.

Coaching Children in Social Skills for Friendship Making.

ODEN, SHERRI, and ASHER, STEVEN R. Coaching Children in Social Skills for Friendship Making. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 495-506. Thirdand fourth-grade socially isolated children were coached in social skills. The coaching condition included (1) instructions from an adult in social skills relevant to friendship making, (2) playing games with peers to practice social skills, and (3) a postplay review session with the coach. In a second condition (peer pairing), isolated children played the same games with the same peers but did not receive verbal instruction or review. In a third condition (control), isolated children were taken out of the classroom with the same peers but played solitary games and did not interact or receive verbal instruction or review. Pretest-posttest sociometric assessment of the 4-week training indicated that the coaching group increased on a play sociometric rating significantly more than the peer-pairing and control groups. The coaching children also received a greater but nonsignificant gain in friendship nominations. No significant findings were obtained on the work sociometric rating or on behavioral measures. A follow-up assessment 1 year later indicated continued progress on the play sociometric rating for the children who had received coaching.

Children's Goals and Strategies in Response to Conflicts within a Friendship.

Little is known about the skills required for friendship, as distinct from those required for peer acceptance. The present study examined whether childrens goals and strategies in friendship conflict situations are predictive of their friendship adjustment, after accounting for level of peer acceptance. Fourth- and 5th-grade children (N = 696) responded to 30 hypothetical situations in which they were having a conflict with a friend. Results indicated that childrens goals were highly related to their strategies and that childrens goals and strategies were predictive of their real-life friendship adjustment. Pursuing the goal of revenge toward a friend was the goal or strategy most strongly associated with lacking friends and having poor-quality friendships. Gender differences were also found for each goal and strategy, with girls displaying a more prosocial goal and strategy orientation than boys.

Loneliness and Peer Relations in Childhood

Although loneliness is a normative experience, there is reason to be concerned about children who are chronically lonely in school. Research indicates that children have a fundamental understanding of what it means to be lonely, and that loneliness can be reliably measured in children. Most of the research on loneliness in children has focused on the contributions of childrens peer relations to their feelings of well-being at school. Loneliness in children is influenced by how well accepted they are by peers, whether they are overtly victimized, whether they have friends, and the durability and quality of their best friendships. Findings from this emerging area of research provide a differentiated picture of how childrens peer experiences come to influence their emotional well-being.

Significance of peer relationship problems in childhood

In his 1917 sixteen-volume series Practical Child Training, educator R. C. Beery offered advice to mothers whose children have few friends and are reticent to approach others. Beery urged mothers to facilitate get-togethers with peers, such as backyard picnics that include the child’s schoolmates, and to help the children “have a royal good time” (p. 1325). Beery also suggested what to do when a child is fearful about approaching other children: “If your child ever comes to you to bury his head in your skirts, you should not scold or make any scene, but simply appear to pay no attention to him” (p. 741).

Linkages between Children’s Beliefs about the Legitimacy of Aggression and Their Behavior

The purposes of this study were to learn whether children’s beliefs about the legitimacy of aggression can be reliably assessed and whether these beliefs relate to children’s everyday social behavior with peers, as well as their responses to hypothetical ambiguous provocation situations. Fourth- and fifth-grade students (n = 781) responded to a 16-item questionnaire designed to measure children’s beliefs about the legitimacy of aggression. Children’s behavioral orientation was assessed using two methods: (1) children’s responses to ten hypothetical situations involving ambiguous provocation, and (2) peer evaluations of children’s aggressive, withdrawn, and prosocial behavior. Results indicated that children’s beliefs about the legitimacy of aggression were reliably measured. Furthermore, results from both measures of behavioral style showed that children who believed strongly in the legitimacy of aggression were more aggressive, less withdrawn, and less prosocial. The findings suggest that one focus of efforts to decrease children’s aggression should be the modification of their beliefs about the legitimacy of aggressive actions.

Social Competence and Peer Status: The Distinction Between Goals and Strategies

Sociometric status in the peer group is a fairly stable phenomenon (Asher, Singleton, Tinsley, & Hymel, 1979; Roff, Sells, & Golden, 1972), and longitudinal research suggests that low status is predictive of later life adjustment (Cowen, Pederson, Babigian, Izzo, & Trost, 1973; Roff et al., 1972; Ullmann, 1957). However, the reasons for poor acceptance by the peer group are not well understood. Several explanations have been advanced since the 1930s to explain why certain children are unpopular. One group of researchers has focused on the characteristics of the group itself and examined how group roles and responsibilities are distributed (Jennings, 1959; Moreno, 1934). From this perspective, unpopular children are those who have been temporarily assigned, either formally or informally, to a marginal group role. In order to assist unpopular children, these researchers suggest that a new group structure be engineering by reassigning roles or creating new responsibilities for marginal group members (Jennings, 1959).