Sociometric status

Sociometric status is a measurement that reflects the degree to which someone is liked or disliked by their peers as a group.

Developmental psychology

In developmental psychology, this system has been used to examine children's status in peer groups, its stability over time, the characteristics that determine it, and the long-term implications of one's popularity or rejection by peers.

The most commonly used sociometric system, developed by Coie & Dodge, 1988, asks children to rate how much they like or dislike each of their classmates and uses these responses to classify them into five groups:

• Popular children: Children are designated as popular if they receive many positive nominations.
• Rejected children: Children are designated as rejected if they receive many negative nominations and few positive nominations.
• Neglected children: Children are designated as neglected if they receive few positive or negative nominations. These children are not especially liked or disliked by peers, and tend to go unnoticed.
• Average children: Children are designated as average if they receive an average number of both positive and negative nominations.
• Controversial children: Children are designated as controversial if they receive many positive and many negative nominations. They are said to be liked by quite a few children, but also disliked by quite a few.

Positive psychology

While socioeconomic measures of status do not correspond to greater happiness, measures of sociometric status (status compared to people encountered face-to-face on a daily basis) do correlate to increased subjective well-being, above and beyond the effects of extroversion and other factors.

See also

• Developmental psychology