Children's Perceptions of Their Peer Experiences: Attributions, Loneliness, Social Anxiety, and Social Avoidance

In this study, 338 3rd and 5th graders completed a sociometric questionnaire and 3 instruments designed to assess their feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, social avoidance, and their attributions for social outcomes. Results showed that children's feelings and attributions varied as a function of peer status, gender, and grade. For example, compared with peers, rejected children reported higher levels of loneliness and were more likely to attribute relationship failures to external causes. Children's feelings were also significantly related to their attributions about social events. Popular, average, and controversial status children who were socially distressed exhibited a non-self-serving attributional style, whereas distressed rejected children exhibited a self-serving attributional pattern. Neglected children who were distressed exhibited elements of both of these attributional styles.