The population was likewise chosen from a balanced number of families coming from different geographic locations (urban, rural, and suburban), as well as ethnicity and different income brackets.
Various means of measurements such as the 3-point "scale measure of peer acceptance," which has gained acceptance among child psychology scholars as both "reliable and valid" were used (Buhs, Ladd, & Herald, 2006). The Excluded by Peers measure was also utilized to measure the recurrent peer exclusion in the course of the 6-year study. Most of the measures were administered in the spring of the school year for the duration of the study. Other variables that were measured were classroom participation and school avoidance using select items from the Cooperative and the Autonomous Scale of School Adjustment when the children were in their 3rd to 5th grades. Various statistical tools were also implemented to evaluate the "conformity to parametric and multivariate assumptions" (Buhs, Ladd, & Herald, 2006).
Key findings of the study not only confirms but further expands earlier suppositions that school maladjustment in children later in life are not only determined by simultaneous peer rejection and maltreatment but also with the "distinct forms of peer maltreatment." Children who find themselves less accepted at the earliest level are more inclined to experience ill treatment from their peers. School disengagement was also a likelihood if chronic peer exclusion and abuse was experienced in the early grade school. Third, the relationship between peer group rejection in their pre-elementary years and their accomplishment in later years is largely predicated by previous experience of chronic peer exclusion and increasing withdrawal from classroom activities. These findings...
The study, though, does not offer any explanation to this, which may be an interesting matter to look into.
While the study provides a significant empirical evidence to explain the relationship between rejection, maltreatment, and the various modes of maltreatment, it does not provide an explanation as to how children develop liking or disliking for a particular child. The study clearly states, though, that dislike for another child can be a precursor to future maltreatment or exclusion. This may be a good starting point for future researches on understanding children's group behavior. This is one possible area of study on peer relationships among children, which may be useful in determining mitigating factors to address the appalling issue of abuse committed by children to their fellow children. Another interesting area would be to look into why recipients of such negative behavior are predisposed to such behaviors. All these efforts, as the authors assert, is geared not only towards understanding peer behavior among children but also to serve as empirical bases of sound intervention for schools and the classroom as environments of learning.
Works Cited
Buhs, E.S., Ladd, G.W., & Herald, S.L. (2006). Peer Exclusion and Victimization: Processes That Mediate the Relation Between Peer Group Rejection and Children's Classroom Engagement and Achievement? Journal of Educational Psychology, 1-13.
