Poster #124 - Likeability and Popularity as Sources of Influence in Children's Friendships

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

It is clear that friends exercise considerable influence over a host of adjustment outcomes (Laursen & Veenstra, 2021). Less clear are the dynamics that drive influence within a friendship. What makes one friend more influential than another? Both likeability and popularity have been tied to attributes that lend themselves to being influential. No prospective study, however, has identified the relative contribution of each. The present longitudinal study compares likeability and popularity as sources of influence, describing the degree to which higher and lower status friends shape each other’s adjustment.
Participants included 310 children (142 boys, 168 girls) attending two public primary and middle schools required to represent public school students in the state of Florida in terms of ethnicity and family income. The sample included 34 3rd graders (M=8.16 years old ), 112 4th graders (M=9.39 years old), 116 5th graders (M=10.41 years old), and 48 6th graders (M=11.42 years old). Of this total, 38.1% were European American, 17.3% were African American, 28% were Hispanic American, and the remainder identified as other backgrounds.
From a roster of same-sex classmates, participants identified an unlimited number of friends at two time points, 8 or 14 weeks apart. Participants also completed a peer assessment questionnaire (Bukowski et al., 2012) consisting of a class roster on which they identified the names of same-sex peers who best fit each description. Two indices of status were assessed: popularity and likeability. Four indices of reputation were assessed: relational aggression, physical aggression, prosocial behavior, and academic achievement.
Actor-Partner Interdependence Model analyses for distinguishable dyads (APIM; Kenny et al., 2006), modified for use with longitudinal data (Popp et al., 2008), were conducted. Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual model. Each friend in each dyad was classified as either realtively more likeable or relatively less likeable. Separately, each friend in each dyad was classified as either relatively more popular or relatively less popular. Partners within each friend dyad were categorized according to their relative popularity and relative likeability, using residualized scores to isolate the influence of each. Likeability was regressed on popularity to distinguish the relatively better-liked friend from the relatively lesser-liked partner; popularity was regressed on likeability to distinguish the relatively more-popular friend from the relatively less-popular partner.
Table 1 presents the results. Across most outcomes, when partners differed in terms of likeability, better-liked friends influenced their lesser-liked counterparts and not the reverse. Equally consistent were the findings for popularity: Within friend dyads, more-popular partners did not influence less-popular partners.
Our study is the first to contrast relative likeability and popularity in a longitudinal framework. Taken together, the findings suggest that during the pre- and early adolescent years, relative influence within a friendship is apportioned on the basis of likeability, not popularity. Our residualization strategy ensured that friend differences were specific to likeability or acceptance. Confidence in the findings was bolstered by the fact that similar patterns of influence were not found among randomly selected peers; the findings were unique to friends.

Authors

• Mary Page Leggett-James, Florida Atlantic University
  Presenting Author

• Olivia Valdes, Florida Atlantic University

• Brett Laursen, Florida Atlantic University