An investigation on peer status and its relation to the tripartite structure of positive and negative affect in school children

Abstract

The present investigation assessed whether or not children from varying sociometric status groups displayed levels of anxiety, depression, and affect in accord with current theory. Additionally, it was investigated whether Social Impact (SI) and Social Preference (SP) mediated the relationship between levels of affect and symptoms indicative of social anxiety and/or depression. A peer sociometric nomination task and questionnaire measures of affect and anxious and depressive symptomatology were administered to 98 third- and sixth-graders from two public schools. Rejected children reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than their average peers. Further, while SI and SP failed to mediate the relationships between self-reported levels of affect and symptoms indicative of social anxiety or depression, both negative affect and SP were shown to make significant and independent contributions towards the prediction of self-reported depressive symptoms. Important limitations of the present study, as well as directions for future sociometric status research, are reviewed.