Sociometric status and social interaction: are the neglected children socially less active?

Previous studies have clearly established that isolated children display less social behaviors than popular ones and that poorly accepted as well as isolated children are at risk for future adjustment problems. These findings prompt the author to predict that children of the various sociometric statuses should display differential rates of social interaction with peers. Predictions were tested by administering during the second term to 99 kindergarten children a sociometric measure and by videotaping each child for 1 hr. during free play. Whether or not the child was in social interaction with peers was subsequently coded at 5-sec. intervals by two observers. Sociometric scores and inter- and intraobserver agreements were high. Popular children were the most socially active, followed by the average, the rejected, and then the neglected children, which confirmed all hypotheses. These results give strong support for the validity of the difference between the neglect and rejected vs the popular and the average children and suggested that such work must include the child's rate of social interaction with peers as a covariable in the analyses to identify differences between statuses.