PEER ACCEPTANCE

Peer acceptance is measured by the quality rather than quantity of a child or adolescent's relationship. While the number of friends varies among children and over time as a child develops, peer acceptance is often established as early as preschool. Factors such as physical attractiveness, cultural traits and disabilities affect the level of peer acceptance. Children who are peer-accepted or popular have fewer problems in the middle and high school, and teens who are peer-accepted have fewer emotional and social adjustmant problems as adults. Peer-accepted children may be shy or assertive, but they often have well-developed communication skills.
By contrast, rejected children tend either towards aggresive, antisocial behavior, or withdrawn, depressive behavior. They also do not listen well, tend not to offer reasons for their behavior, don't possitively reinforce their peers, and have trouble cooperating. Antisocial children will interrupt people, dominate other children, and either verbally or phisically attack them. Depressive or withdrawn children may be excessively reserved, submissive, anxious and inhibited. Competitiveness or dominance by itself is not necessarily indicative of low peers acceptance. In fact, popular children tend to have the characteristics of both competitiveness and friendliness.

Source: taken from the Encyclopedia of Psychology