Teacher and Peer Reports on Preschoolers Sociometric Popularity

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Traditional peer sociometric nominations, even at early ages, are not replaceable by teachers’ classifications of children’s sociometric popularity. The association between reports from the two sources, although not independent, was weak, with teachers perceiving more children as popular and fewer children as rejected. Teacher and peer classifications were similarly associated with social skills and behavior problems. Sociometric popularity obtained from teachers, but not from peers, was associated with children’s age and verbal competence. Practice or policy: This study investigated the association between preschool children’s sociometric popularity obtained from peer sociometric nominations and from teachers’ classifications. A total of 1535 children (731 girls and 804 boys), aged between 34 and 89.6 months (M = 61.96, SD = 8.91), and 89 teachers participated in the study.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all our colleagues involved in data collection as well as to participating children and teachers.

Disclosure statement

The authors whose names are listed immediately above certify that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in any organisation or entity with any financial or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This workwas funded by Portuguese National Funds, via FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through research grants SFRH/BPD/86115/201 (awarded to Inês Peceguina) and PTDC/CPE-CED/117476/2010 (awarded to Cecília Aguiar). It was based on work developed by the second author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Community Psychology and Minor Protection.