“I’m OK but You’re Not ” and Other Peer-Relational Schemas: Explaining Individual Differences in Children’s Social Goals

This study examined the links among 5th and 6th graders ’ (279 girls and 310 boys) self- and peer perceptions, social goals, and social behavior. Social goals mediated the effects of self- and peer perceptions on 3 types of behavior: proactive aggression, prosocial behavior, and withdrawal. In addition to their main effects (self-perception predicting variance in agentic goals, peer perception being related to communal goals), self- and peer perception interacted in influencing social goals; for instance, the effects of a positive view of oneself were different in the contexts of a positive versus a negative perception of peers. It is suggested that in order to predict children’s social behavior more accurately, researchers should investigate children’s dual perceptions of themselves and of their peers—that is, their peer-relational schemas—instead of assessing self-perception and peer perception in isolation from each other