On the Importance of Being Fun: Over Time Associations Between Perceptions of Fun and Changes in Peer Preference and Popularity

In this short- term longitudinal study (N=428), the unique predictive association
between the positive peer nominated characteristic of being fun and peer status (peer
preference and popularity) was assessed in a sample of fourth through sixth grade
students. Concurrent hierarchical regression analyses and longitudinal structural equation
modeling analyses found that peer nominated fun positively predicted preference and
popularity, after accounting for the contribution of predictors potentially confounded with
being fun, such as prosocial behavior, academic achievement, relational aggression, and
physical aggression. The longitudinal association between fun and preference was
qualified by grade in school, such that being fun predicted increases in preference for
younger children but not for older children. There were bidirectional associations
between peer status and fun; fun predicted increases in peer preference and popularity,
but peer preference and popularity also predicted later increases in fun. The findings
point to the need to expand existing conceptualizations of the antecedents of peer status beyond known predictors and to examine the developmental shifts in the landscape of
children’s peer interactions that make certain characteristics more desirable at different
ages.