Life Span Development II School Age and Adolescence

Life Span Development II: School age and Adolescence 3 (2+1)

Lesson 9 : Development of social interactions in late childhood

Popularity and Social isolation in Late childhood

Popularity among peers has definite advantages. They achieve at higher levels, have higher self-esteem, are happier at school, exhibit fewer problem behaviors, and have better attendance records (Wentzel, 1999).

1. Popular children: Children who are well liked, kind and trustworthy have good social skills tend to be quite prosocial. More likely to help, share, cooperate and empathize with others.




2. Rejected children: Children who are least liked by other children to do something with. Those who are frequently selected are known as rejected children. These children have poor social skills found to be impulsive and disruptive in a group or social withdrawn and also aggressive. As a result they are unable to establish and maintain congenial interpersonal relationships with others.

3. Neglected children are those whom agemates rarely select as someone they would either most like to do something with. They tend to be quiet and keep to themselves. Prefer to be alone, do not know how to go about making friends, satisfied with the one or two close friends that they have.

Not all children fall exactly into one of these three categories. Some are controversial, in that some of their agemates really like them and others really don’t like them.