Validation of continuous measures of peer social interaction with self- and teacher-reports of friendship and social engagement

ABSTRACT

The present study validates a new procedure that combines continuous measures of proximity (Ubisense) and vocalization (LENA) into measures of peer social interaction. The data were collected from 4 boys and 5 girls (ages 2–3 at the outset) on 8 separate days (3–4 hours per day) over the course of an academic year. Teacher reports of friendship were positively correlated with continuous measures of dyadic social interaction (i.e., the amount of time two children spent in proximity to one another, talking). Self-reports of reciprocated friendship were marginally correlated with continuous measures of dyadic social interaction, but only in the spring semester (when children were older and their reports of friendship more reliable). At the individual level, peer nominations of likeability, and teacher ratings of sociability and withdrawal were correlated with continuous measures of social interaction (i.e., the amount of time a child spent in proximity to other children, talking).

KEYWORDS:

• Ubisense
• LENA
• friendships
• social engagement
• withdrawal

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data Availability Statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article’s supplementary materials.

Additional information

Funding

The project was funded by a grant to Daniel Messinger and Brett Laursen from the US National Science Foundation [IBSS-L-1620294], with additional support to Daniel Messinger from the Institute of Education Sciences [R324A180203] and to Brett Laursen from the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [HD096457].