Concurrent and longitudinal correlates of preschool peer sociometrics: Comparing rating scale and nomination measures

Abstract

Nomination and rating scale measures of preschool sociometric status were compared with respect to their patterns of concurrent and longitudinal developmental correlates. The study was undertaken to help fill a void in the empirical literature on young children's peer adjustment. Subjects were 79 4-5 year-old children, currently enrolled in preschool classes. In addition to the sociometric interviews, diverse measures of children's social and cognitive competence were administered concurrently, and longitudinally one year later. These measures included teacher ratings of peer acceptance and behavior problems, and performance measures of social problem-solving ability, impulse control, and vocabulary competence. As expected, the reliability of the rating scale technique was superior to that of the nomination measures. Furthermore, all three sociometric measures had modest but meaningful patterns of concurrent and longitudinal correlates. However, the negative nomination measure was distinguished from the others by its consistent association with measures of impulsivity, and its predictive link with aggressive social problem solving. Therefore, negative peer nomination measures supply unique information about children's social functioning that should be represented in studies of children at risk for social maladjustment.