The proposed research is the second revision of a proposal designed to identify the correlates that most strongly differentiate male and female second and fourth grade children of differing sociometric status: popular, rejected, neglected, average, and controversial. The predictor variables will consist of (a) the children's social behavior with familiar and unfamiliar peers; (b) academic-related behavior; (c) their peers' and teachers' reactions directly observed on the playground and in the classroom; and (d) teachers' judgments of the child's social and academic behavior. Using both positive and negative nominations, sociometric classifications will be derived based on same-sex and opposite-sex nominations separately for boys and girls. Multiple discriminant function analyses will be conducted on each of the four sets of classifications to determine the weighted combination of variables which best discriminate the soiometric status groups in each grade. These correlates of social status will be compared to examine the interaction between sex of nominator and sex of nominee. Path analyses will be used to determine whether the teachers' classroom behavior and perceptions act as mediating variables influencing children's choices of playmates on the sociometric assessment and during actual play periods. The effects of making negative nominations will be assessed on high risk children by directly observing their peer interaction and specifically examining their relations with their negative nominators. Children who show significant increases in positive social and decreases in negative social interaction with the peer group will be administered a social skills intervention designed to change the behavior of the child, the peer group, and their perceptions of each other.
