The role of family background in peer selection and peer acceptance
The aim of the present study was to examine the role of children’s family background in peer selection and peer acceptance and rejection. The participants were 1 017 children and their mothers. Teachers rated children’s social skills, whereas information of peer selection and peer acceptance and rejection was obtained using a sociometric peer nomination procedure. Family background was explored by investigating the number of favorable and unfavorable family factors. The data was analyzed using path modeling. The results showed that children resembled their peers in regard to social skills and unfavorable family background. A favorable family background was also found to protect children from peer rejection. Furthermore, social skills were found to mediate the associations between children’s family background and peer selection and peer acceptance and rejection.