Popular and aggressive boys' initial social interaction patterns in cooperative and competitive settings

Thirty-two third- and fourth-grade popular and aggressive boys were observed individually attempting to enter a game being played by a mixed-status unfamiliar-peer dyad in both competitive and cooperative game settings. Consistent with previous findings, popular entry children were accepted more readily into the game situation than were aggressive children. Popular children tended to approach the situations using more prosocial questions while their aggressive peers tended to use demands. More differences in entry strategies were noted in the competitive than in the cooperative game setting. While most entry children directed their first entry bid toward the aggressive game host, they reported having liked the popular game host best when the game was finished. Additionally, the quality of game interactions was observed to become more positive following a popular child's entry, while becoming more negative following an aggressive child's entry. The results are discussed in terms of leadership roles and implications for both assessment and intervention settings and strategies.