Predicting Preschoolers' Peer Behavior and Status From Their Interpersonal Strategies: A Comparison of Verbal and Enactive Responses to Hypothetical Social Dilemmas

Jacquelyn Mize, Gary W. Ladd

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

101 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purposes of this study were (a) to compare a verbal and an enactive procedure for assessing preschool children's social strategies in hypothetical situations in terms of their ability to predict social behavior with peers and peer acceptance and (b) to examine some of the psychometric properties of the two assessment methods. Children's responses to a set of hypothetical social situations were elicited both with puppets and props (enactive assessment) and with a set of pictures (verbal assessment). The responses were rated in terms of their friendliness and assertiveness. Enactive friendliness ratings contributed significantly to regression equations predicting teacher and observer ratings of prosocial and aggressive behavior but not to peer group acceptance, whereas the verbal method contributed little predictive power beyond that provided by the enactive ratings. Implications for social skill assessment and intervention with children are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)782-788
Number of pages7
JournalDevelopmental psychology
Volume24
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1988
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Demography
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

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