Bortman, Gilly

Theorists and researchers have emphasized the importance of interactive peer play for children’s social-emotional and cognitive development. Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are at increased risk for social-emotional and cognitive difficulties. Therefore, it is important to determine the causes of interactive peer play, particularly in a high-risk sample of Head Start preschoolers. Overactive behavior at the beginning of the preschool year has been shown to negatively predict changes in interactive play between the beginning and end of the preschool year. However, possible mechanisms of this association have been underexplored. The main purpose of this study will be to determine whether peer rejection mediates the association between overactive behavior and changes in interactive play and whether mediation is conditional on children’s school readiness. If it is found that moderated mediation exists for overactive children with low school readiness, children who present both of these characteristics at the beginning of the preschool year should be provided with preventative support.

Previous studies of desired friendship have assessed desired friends with
unilateral nominations (when one child chooses another child as a friend, but that friend
nomination is not reciprocated). This calls into question the validity of findings
suggesting that children want to be friends with others who differ from themselves, but
befriend similar others by default (Sijtsema, Lindenberg, & Veenstra, 2010). The current
study concerns desired friendships among 195 girls and 147 boys in Grades 4 through 6.
Two hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis was that children will not choose the
same unilateral and desired friends. The second hypothesis was that children will be more
similar to their reciprocal friends than to their unilateral and desired friends.
Questionnaires measured desired friendship, friendship, and child characteristics. Both
hypotheses were supported. However, there were group-level differences. The
importance of using desired friend nominations to measure desired friends is discussed.