This study examined age-related changes in the relationship between children's perceptions of how peers treat them, their affective distress, and their position within the peer group. Subjects were 380 boys and girls (163 second graders and 217 fifth graders) from 4 Greensboro, North Carolina, elementary schools. Children's sociometric status was determined using a procedure developed by J. D. Coie, K. A. Dodge, and H. Coppotelli. Children also completed the Peer Perception Inventory and an 18-item self-report inventory of depression. Analysis revealed that higher levels of social acceptance were associated with more positive perceptions of one's treatment by peers, and this relationship appeared stronger for older children. Similarly, children with higher victimization scores reported less positive treatment by peers, and this relationship was also stronger within the older sample. Victimized rejected children reported less positive treatment by peers as grade increased, and by the fifth grade these children's reports were markedly different from any other status group. For aggressive rejected children, however, the pattern was reversed, as their report of how peers treated them increased substantially from grade two to five. Results of this study suggest interesting age-related changes in the associations between children's status, perceptions of treatment by peers, and affective distress. (MM)