Popularity in the Peer System

Bringing together leading researchers, this is the first volume to comprehensively examine popularity among children and adolescents: what it is, how it is attained, and its impact on peer interaction and individual development. The book clarifies how popularity is distinct from being socially accepted or well liked and how it is different for girls and boys. Behaviors that characterize popular peers are explored, as are the developmental benefits and risks of popularity and its connections to peer influence processes. Innovative measurement approaches and research designs are clearly described.

Antonius H. N. Cillessen, PhD, is Professor and Chair of Developmental Psychology in the Behavioural Science Institute and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social Science at Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Dr. Cillessen’s research interests include peer relationships in childhood and adolescence, popularity, aggression and antisocial behavior, the development of social cognition, and research methods for developmental psychology (sociometric methods, social network analysis, observational research, and longitudinal design and analysis). He has served on the editorial boards of Developmental Psychology, the Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, and the International Journal of Behavioral Development.

 

David Schwartz, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Dr. Schwartz’s research is broadly concerned with the links between social problems in the peer group during childhood and adolescence and the development of psychopathology. He has published widely on topics related to bully/victim problems in school peer groups, community violence exposure, peer relationships across cultural contexts, friendship, aggression, and popularity. Dr. Schwartz has also served on the editorial boards of Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

 

Lara Mayeux, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Dr. Mayeux’s primary research interests are peer relationships and the development of peer status in middle childhood and adolescence, with a particular focus on popularity. Her work, funded by the National Science Foundation, has focused on behavioral, social-cognitive, and gender issues in popularity.