Most children first enter social groups of peers in preschool. In this context, children use movement as a social tool, resulting in distinctive proximity patterns in space and synchrony with others over time. However, the social implications of children's movements with peers in space and time are difficult to determine due to the difficulty of…

Analysis of the social exchanges of 33 toddlers with developmental disabilities showed that more of the observation time was spent socially with mothers than with peers, and the number of turns per exchange was longer with mothers. However, toddlers initiated more social exchanges with peers than with mothers. Few changes were exhibited over time.…

An investigation of peer relationships through longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of 62 children at age 2 1/2 and again at age 7 1/2. These studies specifically examined the differentiation and location of correlates of intensive and extensive peer relationships, sex differences in peer behavior, and the nature of peer-oriented behavior for…

This study charts the development of social interchange patterns (reciprocity) between familiar peers and adults from written and videotaped observations of 72 children at ages 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, and 42 months. Two additional groups of eight children were observed over a 12-month interval in a parallel longitudinal design. Measures included…

This paper suggests that if a group of commuter students took their introductory courses together and also participated together in small group activities related to their coursework, their acquisition of on-campus reference groups would be accelerated, and the scope of their college experience might be expanded. (Author)

Suggests that dominance can be defined as asymmetry in predictability in social variables of importance, and bidirectionality as symmetrical predictability. Procedures which address the concepts of cyclicity within a person and synchronicity between people and which assess asymmetry and symmetry in social interaction are discussed. (Author/RH)

Three seven-year-old males with autism included in social skills groups with nonhandicapped peers were successfully trained in such social skills as initiating, responding, keeping interactions going, greeting, conversing, giving and accepting compliments, taking turns and sharing, asking for help and helping others, and including others in…

Nineteen socially isolated preschool children were exposed either to four videotapes in which social skills were modeled (treatment) or to four sequences of a nature film (control). Observations indicated that treatment produced increases in the frequency with which subjects dispensed and received social reinforcement and the frequency of social…

Presents a case study of a 4-year-old girl, considered a high adult-low peer interactor, whose behavior was modified by the indirect method of priming and reinforcing. (ED)

This study examines social comparison processes occurring in the interactions among normal adolescents in peer groups. Eight types of social comparison processes were predicted. Two of these, specific to adolescent developmental processes, are new. The experimental design called for behavioral observation documenting occurrence of social…

How infants and toddlers become skilled social actors has not been examined as often as the peer interactions of older children. This study examined 24, middle-class toddlers (ages 23 to 33 months) in 9 different settings during their free-play time at a university-cooperative nursery school. Researchers analyzed 150 social bids which were either…