Abstract

SUREDA GARCIA, Inmaculada; GARCIA-BACETE, Francisco-Juan  and  MONJAS CASARES, María Inés. REASONS WHY TEN AND ELEVEN YEARS OLD CHILDREN PREFER OR REJECT THEIR PEERS. rev.latinoam.psicol. [online]. 2009, vol.41, n.2, pp.323-334. ISSN 0120-0534.

The aim of this article is to know the reasons for preferring or rejecting equals by taking into account gender differences. The article does an in-depth study of the answers compiled from the boys and girls who ask and answer questions in each case. The answers have been taken from a sociometric questionnaire with positive and negative candidates which was completed by 430 schoolchildren in the fifth and sixth years of primary education in 21 classes of public schools located in Valladolid, Palma de Majorca and Castellón de la Plana (Spain). They were classified into nine acceptance categories and fifteen rejection categories. The results show that boys and girls state similar reasons to accept or reject their classmates. Friendliness, fun and friendship are the main reasons for preference, along with carrying out joint activities, but only in the case of boys. Indirect aggression, basically understood as arrogance, is the main reason for rejection. Despite such results, gender-related differences exist concerning the priority of certain reasons, and which also mainly relate to the gender who asks or to the gender who answers. Based on such reasons, we observe that the gender stereotypes are maintained.

Keywords : social acceptation; sociometry; peer rejection; gender; education.

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