Children’s Interactions with Peers before and after Participating in a Positive and Negative Peer Nomination Technique

Positive and negative peer nomination techniques are essential to the identification of children with social skills deficits. Some researchers, school administrators, teachers, and parents view the administration of peer nomination techniques as harmful to children. The present investigation examined the effects of positive and negative peer nomination techniques on children\u27s peer interactions and on Unpopular peers; (i.e., Rejected and Neglected) interactions. Fourth graders (n = 54) completed nomination techniques, the children\u27s Loneliness Questionnaire, and the Children\u27s Friendship Questionnaire. The experimental group (n = 26) completed positive and negative peer nomination techniques, and the control group (n = 28) completed positive and negative nominations of school activities. Before and after the administration of nomination techniques, trained observers recorded the affective quality (i.e., positive, negative, or neutral) of subjects\u27 peer interactions using the behavior observation method of momentary time sampling. Analysis of covariance revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in the rates of positive, negative and neutral peer interactions at post-observation across groups. There also was no statistically significant difference in the rate of negative peer interactions exhibited by Unpopular children following the administration of peer nomination techniques. For all experimental subjects who exhibited negative peer interactions from pre- to post-observation, there was a statistically significant decrease in the rate. The results of the present study suggest that the risk to fourth grade children who complete sociometrics, provided certain procedural guidelines are followed, is minimal