Popularity in the peer system

Particular emphasis is given to the risks and benefits of being popular. The volume reviews research linking popularity to substance use, poor academic performance, and other adjustment problems. Contributors also address the positive side of popularity, including its association with social competence and leadership abilities. Throughout the book, implications for prevention and intervention with adolescents are highlighted. Read more... Content: Popularity as a social concept : meanings and significance / William M. Bukowski -- Conceptualizing and measuring popularity / Antonius H.N. Cillessen, Peter E.L. Marks -- Being there awhile : an ethnographic perspective on popularity / Don E. Merten -- Social acceptance and popularity : two distinct forms of peer status / Lara Mayeux, John J. Houser, Karmon D. Dyches -- Popularity and gender : the two cultures of boys and girls / Amanda J. Rose, Gary C. Glick, Rhiannon L. Smith -- Popularity as a form of social dominance : an evolutionary perspective / Anthony D. Pellegrini ... [et al.] -- Prosocial skills, social competence, and popularity / Julie Wargo Aikins, Scott D. Litwack -- Popularity in peer group perspective : the role of status in adolescent peer systems / B. Bradford Brown -- Peer popularity in the context of ethnicity / Amy Bellmore, Adrienne Nishina, Sandra Graham -- The power of popularity : influence processes in childhood and adolescence / Marlene J. Sandstrom -- The high price of high status : popularity as a mechanism of risk / David Schwartz, Andrea Hopmeyer Gorman -- Toward a theory of popularity / Antonius H.N. Cillessen. Abstract: Particular emphasis is given to the risks and benefits of being popular. The volume reviews research linking popularity to substance use, poor academic performance, and other adjustment problems. Contributors also address the positive side of popularity, including its association with social competence and leadership abilities. Throughout the book, implications for prevention and intervention with adolescents are highlighted Bringing together leading researchers, this is the first volume to comprehensively examine popularity among children and adolescents: what it is, how it is attained, and its impact on peer interaction and individual development. The book clarifies how popularity is distinct from being socially accepted or well liked and how it is different for girls and boys. Behaviors that characterize popular peers are explored, as are the developmental benefits and risks of popularity and its connections to peer influence processes. Innovative measurement approaches and research designs are clearly described.