Abstract
Peer acceptance during early childhood is related to children's academic achievement, adjustment in school, and even psychological well-being in adulthood. Children who experience low peer acceptance exhibit socially inappropriate behavior patterns, which are associated with irrelevant patterns of information processing. Therefore, as a way of helping children with low peer acceptance, a cognitive-social learning model of social skills training has been used because the model focuses on cognitive changes as well as behavioral changes. Three parts of the social skills training—enhancing skill concepts, promoting skill performance, and fostering skill maintenance/generalization—are discussed. In order to be successful, a trainer should understand the training model as well as behavioral patterns of children with low peer acceptance to provide theory-based and individualized feedback to each participant.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Asher, S. R., Parker, J. G., & Walker, D. L. (1996). Distinguishing friendship from acceptance: Implications for intervention and as-sessment. In W. M. Bukowski, A. F. Newcomb, & W. W. Hartup (Eds.), The company they keep: Friendship in childhood and ado-lescence(pp. 366–405). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Asher, S. R., & Renshaw, P. D. (1981). Children without friends: Social knowledge and social-skill training. In S. R. Asher & J. M. Gottman (Eds.), The development of children's friendships(pp. 273–296). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Berler, E. S., Gross, A. M., & Drabman, R. S. (1982). Social skills training with children: Proceed with caution. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 15,41–53.
Bierman, K. L., & Furman, W. (1984). The effects of social skills training and peer involvement on the social adjustment of preado-lescents. Child Development, 55, 151–162.
Cassidy, J., & Asher, S. R. (1992). Loneliness and peer relations in young children. Child Development, 63, 350–365.
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Kupersmidt, J. B. (1990). Peer group behavior and social status. In S. R. Asher & J. D. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood(pp. 17–59). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Corsaro, W. A. (1979). “We are friends, right?”: Children's use of access rituals in a nursery school. Language and Society, 18, 315–336.
DeRosier, M. E., Kupersmidt, J. B., & Patterson, C. J. (1994). Children's academic and behavioral adjustment as a function of the chronicity and proximity of peer rejection. Child Development, 65, 1799–1813.
Dodge, K. A. (1980). Social cognition and children's aggressive behav-ior. Child Development, 51, 162–170.
Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., McClaskey, C. L., & Brown, J. (1986). Social competence in children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 44(2, Serial No. 213).
Dodge, K. A., & Price, J. M. (1994). On the relation between social information processing and socially competent behavior in early school aged children. Child Development, 65, 1385–1397.
Dodge, K. A., Schlundt, D. C., Schocken, I., & Delugach, J. D. (1983). Social competence and children's sociometric status: The role ofpeer group entry strategies. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 29(3), 309–336.
Dodge, K. A., & Tomlin, A. (1987). Cue utilization as a mechanism of attributional bias in aggressive children. Social Cognition, 5, 280–300.
French, D. C. (1990). Heterogeneity of peer-rejected girls. Child De-velopment, 61, 2028–2031.
Furman, L. N., & Walden, T. A. (1990). Effect of script knowledge on preschool children's communicative interactions. Developmental Psychology, 26(2), 227–233.
Getz, J. A., Goldman, J. A., & Corsini, D. A. (1984). Interpersonal problem solving in preschool children: A comparison of assess-mentprocedures using two-dimensional versus three-dimensional set-stimuli. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 5, 293–304.
Harrist, A. W., Zaia, A. F., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., & Pettit, G. S. (1997). Subtypes of social withdrawal in early childhood: Socio-metric status and social-cognitive difference across four years. Child Development, 68(2), 278–294.
Hartup, W. W. (1992). Peer relations in early and middle childhood.In V. B. Van Hasselt & M. Hersen (Eds.), Handbook of socialcare-development: A lifespan perspective(pp. 257–281). New York: Plenum Press.
Hughes, J. N., & Cavell, T. A. (1995). Cognitive-affective approaches: Enhancing competence in aggressive children. In G. Cartledge & J. F. Milburn (Eds.), Teaching social skills to children and youth: Innovative approaches(3rd ed., pp. 199–236). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Kochenderfer, B. J., & Ladd, G. W. (1996). Peer victimization: Mani-festations and relations to school adjustment in kindergarten.Journal of School Psychology, 34(3), 267–283.
Ladd, G. W. (1988). Friendship patterns and peer status during early and middle childhood. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 9, 229–238.
Ladd, G. W., & Coleman, C. C. (1993). Young children's peer rela-tionships: Forms, features, and functions. In B. Spodek (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children(pp. 57–76). New York: Macmillan.
Ladd, G. W., Kochenderfer, B. J., & Coleman, C. C. (1997). Class-room peer acceptance, friendship, and victimization: Distinct re-lational systems that contribute uniquely to children's school ad-justment? Child Development, 68(6), 1181–1197.
Ladd, G. W., & Mize, J. (1983). A cognitive-social learning model of social-skill training. Psychological Review, 90(2), 127–157.
Ladd, G. W., & Price, J. M. (1987). Predicting children's social and school adjustment following the transition from preschool to kin-dergarten. Child Development, 58, 1168–1189.
Ladd, G. W., Price, J. M., & Hart, C. H. (1988). Predicting preschoolers’ peer status from their playground behaviors and peer contacts. Child Development, 59, 986–992.
Mize, J. (1984). Enhancing children's peer relations: A cognitive social-learning procedure for social skill training with pre-school children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Purdue Uni-versity.
Mize, J. (1995). Coaching preschool children in social skills: A cognitive-social learning curriculum. In G. Cartledge & J. F. Milburn (Eds.), Teaching social skills to children and youth: Innovative approaches(3rd ed., pp. 237–261). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Mize, J., & Ladd, G. W. (1990a). Toward the development of success-fulsocial skills training for preschool children. In S. R. Asher & J. D. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood(pp. 338–361). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mize, J., & Ladd, G. W. (1990b). A cognitive-social learning approach to social skill training with low-status preschool children. Devel-opmental Psychology, 26(3), 388–397.
Nelson, K. (1978). How children represent knowledge of their world in and out of language: A preliminary report. In R. S. Siegler (Ed.), Children's thinking: What develops?(pp. 255–273). Hills-dale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Nelson, K. (1981). Social cognition in a script framework. In J. H. Flavell & L. Ross (Eds.), Social cognitive development(pp. 97–118). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1987). Peer relations and later personal adjustment: Are low-accepted children at risk? Psychological Bulletin, 102(3), 357–389.
Parker, J. G., & Gottman, J. M. (1989). Social and emotional develop-ment in a relational context: Friendship interaction from early childhood to adolescence. In T. J. Berndt & G. W. Ladd (Eds.), Peer relationships in child development(pp. 95–131). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Putallaz, M. (1983). Predicting children's sociometric status from their behavior. Child Development, 54, 1417–1426.
Putallaz, M., & Gottman, J. M. (1981). An interactional model of chil-dren's entry into peer groups. Child Development, 52, 986–994.
Putallaz, M., & Wasserman, A. (1989). Children's naturalistic entry behavior and sociometric status: A developmental perspective. Developmental Psychology, 25(2), 297–305.
Putallaz, M., & Wasserman, A. (1990). Children's entry behavior. In S. R. Asher & J. D. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood(pp. 60–89). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Quiggle, N. L., Garber, J., Panak, W. F., & Dodge, K. A. (1992). Social information processing in aggressive and depressed chil-dren.Child Development, 63, 1305–1320.
Ramsey, P. G. (1988). Social skills and peer status.: A comparison of two sociometric groups. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 34(2), 185–202.
Richard, B. A., & Dodge, K. A. (1982). Social maladjustment and problem solving in school-aged children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 50(2), 226–233.
Rubin, K. H., Daniels-Beirness, T., & Bream, L. (1984). Social isola-tion and social problem solving: A longitudinal study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52(1), 17–25.
Sancilio, M. F., Plumert, J. M., & Hartup, W. W. (1989). Friendship and aggression as determinants of conflict outcomes in middle childhood. Developmental Psychology, 25, 812–819.
Sasso, G., Melloy, K. J., & Kavale, K. A. (1990). Generalization, maintenance, & behavioral covariation associated with social skills training through structured learning. Behavioral Disorders, 16, 9–22.
Short, K., & Abbeduto, L. (1994, August). Effects of preschoolersscript knowledge on their communicative interactions. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.
Slaby, R. G., & Guerra, N. G. (1988). Cognitive mediators of aggres-sion in adolescent offenders: 1. Assessment. Developmental Psy-chology, 24(4), 580–588.
Stokes, T. F., & Baer, D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of gener-alization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10, 349–367.
Stokes, T., & Osnes, P. (1986). Generalizing children's social behavior. In P. Strain, M. Guralnick, & H. Walker (Eds.), Children's social behavior(pp. 407–443). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Stokes, T., & Osnes, P. (1988). The developing applied technology of generalization and maintenance. In R. Horner, G. Dunlap, & R. Koegel (Eds.), Generalization and maintenance(pp. 5–19). Balti-more: Paul H. Brookes.
Vandell, D. L., & Mueller, E. C. (1980). Peer play and friendships during the first two years. In H. C. Foot, A. J. Chapman, & J. R. Smith (Eds.), Friendship and social relations in children(pp. 181–208). Chichester, England: Wiley.
Wahler, R. G. (1969). Setting generality: Some specific and general effects of child behavior therapy. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2, 239–246.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Choi, D.H., Kim, J. Practicing Social Skills Training for Young Children with Low Peer Acceptance: A Cognitive-Social Learning Model. Early Childhood Education Journal 31, 41–46 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025184718597
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025184718597