Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of peer relations on psychosocial adjustments and behavior characteristics in children and young adolescents. Three hundred and eighty one 4th grade elementary school students and 382 2nd grade middle school students in Seoul were administered a sociometric measure, a loneliness and social dissatisfaction questionnaire, a social anxiety and social avoidance questionnaire, self-perceptions questionnaire, and peer behavioral assessment items. The subjects were classified into 5 peer status groups(popular, controversial, average, neglected, rejected) and the rest with the sociometric measure. The rejected group showed the highest levels of loneliness and social avoidance, contrary to the popular group. The rejected and the neglected groups perceived themselves lower than the popular and the controversial groups. The rejected group showed the negative interactional qualities most and the positive interactional qualities least and the opposite was the popular group. The neglected group showed little positive and negative interactional qualities. The rejected group was subdivided into the aggressive-rejected and the withdrawn-rejected groups according to their behavior characteristics. Although both subgroups showed low levels of positive interactional qualities, the withdrawn-rejected group reported higher levels of loneliness, social avoidance and lower self-perceptions than the aggressive-rejected and the average groups. It was suggested that the rejected subgroups may need different intervention programs because their adjustment and behavior problems are different from each ocher.