Coaching Socially Rejected Early Adolescents Regarding Behaviors Used by Peers to Infer Liking

Abstract

In an experimental manipulation, 24 socially rejected children, two from each of 12 different Grade 5 classes, were coached on the importance of displaying behaviors known to be used by peers in making inferences of liking. These children were then encouraged to communicate these behaviors toward selected friendship targets within their own classroom groups. Significant treatment-related improvements were found in these friendships, and targets reported liking of the children who participated in the intervention. There was also a significant increase in the friendship targets' impressions of how much the intervention participants liked them. Finally, friendship targets' reports of social transactions with children in the experimental group indicated a moderate positive relationship between the treatment-related changes and those behaviors used at this age to infer liking.