What's the Attraction? A Study of Popularity in Children Under 6

Montessori Life, Fall 2003 by Tatsch, Joyce

The social structure of the classrooms of young children is fascinating; each one of those little people is a unique participant in the social world of the classroom. One of the most intriguing aspects of being a Montessori teacher is observing the interactions and social machinations of children.

In my experience, a driving force in the classroom at the 3-to-6-year level is the "magnet" or "popular" child. This is the one who may wield more control than the teacher. Every class, every year, has one or two of these children, often a boy for other boys to follow and a girl for other girls to follow. Teachers ask themselves, "What makes Leslie so popular? I just don't get it. Sometimes he/she is so hurtful, but the children keep coming back for more." It's not necessarily the child the teacher would select as the nicest, brightest, kindest, or most attractive who is selected by the children as most desirable. So what is it that leads other children to latch onto one child and compete for his/her attentions? Are there common physical, behavioral, or social characteristics that popular children share? Do boys and girls have differing behaviors that make them appealing to others? Do the children's perceptions of who is popular concur with those of the teachers? These are the questions I have set out to answer. In conducting this study, I had the opportunity to observe children from infancy to 6 years old in their multi-age environments and witness each level of development-from egocentrism to awareness of others to involved and intricate verbal relationships.

I hypothesized that popular or socially competent children do share common behaviors and characteristics which draw other children to them and that these behaviors begin at an early age. However, I believe that peer-admired boys and girls behave differently from each other and possess differing characteristics that make them popular. In this study, a popular child is defined as one who is well liked, whom others follow and choose to be with much of the time.

A review of the literature reveals a wealth of information on various levels of social competence in children from 8 years old through the teens. Much of the popularity-related research of children in the early childhood years was conducted in the 1980s, with a limited number of studies conducted within the past 10 years. Discussions of popularity in younger children are usually found embedded within articles on social competence or in chapters in books about friendship or levels of sociability of children. The preponderance of literature covers negative behaviors or difficulties with socializing.

Popular children are described in Best Friends, Worst Enemies as showing "higher levels of sociability and cognitive ability and lower levels of aggression and withdrawal. Their social skills draw other children to them and other people have more fun with them" (Thompson, Grace, & Cohen, 2001, p. 111). Descriptors associated with popularity include friendly, outgoing, bright, skilled, and attractive (Binon, 1998).

When discussing popular children, researchers often describe them as having a high level of social competence, which has been described as behavior that reflects successful social functioning with peers. Since peer relationships are dyadic and reciprocal, success in social functioning with peers implies that the child is popular and effective in her impact on peers and that the child is sensitive to communications from peers. (Howes, 1987, p. 253)

Popularity doesn' t assume a happy, easy life with many friends. "Some popular children do not have reciprocated or best friends" (Howes, 1987, p. 254). Parker and Seal (Ladd, 1999, p. 8) state, "Children who rotated through friendships evidence a blend of positive and negative behaviors, including some that may have attracted (e.g., playful teasing, knowing interesting gossip) and others that may have destabilized their relationships, e.g. bossiness, hitting, disclosing secrets."

Few studies focus solely on popularity traits in children under 6 years old. The main purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of characteristics and behaviors of popular children. A secondary purpose was to ascertain children's perceptions of popular children and to compare their perceptions with those of the teachers.

Method

Subjects

This study was conducted with children under 6 years old from three Montessori schools in central New Jersey. Montessori schools provide a unique setting in which to study children in a naturalistic environment. Classes are multi-aged; children make their own choices, circulate about the room freely, and interact with others for the majority of the day. Montessori classrooms are a microcosm of our society. They are more reflective of life outside of school than a teacher-directed classroom with children of the same age.

Children attending the schools were from middle- to upper-middle-class socioeconomic groups of primarily Caucasian but also Asian, Hispanic, and African-American ethnicities. The classes selected for study were 1 infant setting (n=15), 6 toddler classes (n=90), and 14 early childhood (age 3-6) classes (n>252

Procedure

A three-part questionnaire developed by the author (Table 1) was distributed to the teachers in the three schools at a meeting to explain the purpose of the research project, review the questionnaire, and define popularity. Teachers (n=27) were asked to complete two three-part questionnaires which included an introductory letter and directions for completion of a form for a boy and a form for a girl they deemed popular in their classrooms. A Children's Interview (Table 2) was designed to verify teachers' selections of children and popularity attributes. Each teacher chose from 3 to 8 children of ages 4 to 6 in her class to interview using this child-friendly questionnaire (n=80).