Three measurements for describing different aspects of sociometric status in a longtudinal study are presented. The measurements were developed over the course of an investigation into stability and change in social positions within a school class The subjects were Swedish schoolchildren aged 10-13 years. Information about the pupils' sociometric status was obtained from their choices in six preference situations: choice of working partner and playmate (grade 3); choice of classmate (grade 4); choice of working partner and playmate (grade 5); and choice of classmate (grade 6). The positions of the children in the social hierarchy were determined by three measurements: (1) the "mean" indicating the individual child's position in the existing hierarchy; (2) "developmental trends" determining stability in the individual's status development; and (3) "variation" indicating the degree of uniformity and variation in the individual pupil's development trend. These three measurements were found to be most useful for describing the sociometric status of an individual schoolchild. (MM)