Peer Acceptance and Black Children's Help-Seeking in School.

Abstract Peer relations, academic competence, and help-seeking behaviors of Black elementary school children were examined. Results indicated that, in comparison to boys, girls were preferred more as helpers, were perceived to be more academically competent, and sought help from peers more often. The distribution of boys and girls across different peer sociometric status groups (i.e., popular, rejected, average) in the classrooms did not differ nor was status in the classroom peer group related to the frequency of children's help seeking. The use of help seeking is suggested to be highly compatible with traditional culturally-based achievement styles of Blacks. Implications of the findings for promoting school adjustment and achievement in Black elementary students are discussed. Introduction A large body of literature focuses on children's relations with their peers. Children who are accepted by their peers at school (i.e., are perceived positively) tend to do better in school than those who experience social rejection (Parker & Asher, 1987). Yet, the correlates of peer acceptance for normally developing children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds still remain largely unexplored. Normative data on peer relations during middle childhood are readily available only on White Americans. Blacks, and other ethnic minority group children, tend to be included only in studies of peer-rejected or disruptive children, or in studies of peer relations in desegregated school settings (e.g., Kistner, Metzler, Gatlin, & Risi, 1993). Moreover, studies of peer relations in desegregated schools indicate the existence of a strong same-race preference among children in their choices of play and work partners (e.g., Clark & Drewry, 1985; Singleton & Asher, 1977). This same-race preference often results in low status scores on sociometric measures for Black children in desegregated classrooms (e.g., Coie, Dodge, & Coppotelli, 1982), which may, in turn, be interpreted inappropriately as a lack of social competence in this group of children. The classroom is a major arena for the development of peer relations. A child's acceptance within the classroom peer group may be associated with a range of individual competencies and relational exchange contexts. For example, academic achievement has been consistently reported to be a correlate of high status or acceptance among children in middle childhood (e.g., Coie, Dodge, & Kupersmidt, 1990). Yet, research (e.g., Morris, & Jackson, 1986) on the relationship between peer popularity and academic achievement in Black children of low socioeconomic status suggests that academic competence has little effect on their choice of friends. Also, in the classroom context prosocial and cooperative interactions between peers has been found to be related to peer acceptance (Coie et al, 1990). Classroom help exchanges are salient features of peer relations and children are as likely to be help seekers as they are to be helpers (see Nelson-Le Gall, 1981; 1992 for a discussion of different forms and functions of children's help-seeking in classrooms). Previous research (e.g., Coie, Dodge, & Coppotelli, 1982; Coie & Kupersmidt, 1983) has found that Black children are perceived by their classmates to seek help more often than their White counterparts and that help seeking is negatively related to acceptance by peers. It is important to note that previous studies of the relations between Black children's peer status and their help-seeking behavior in classrooms are limited in important ways. These studies often do not control for Black children's minority status in the school or differences in achievement level between Black and White students. The bulk of the studies in the literature that report on Black children's social standing in classroom peer groups were conducted in classrooms in which the Black children were in the minority. Moreover, the studies conceptualized help seeking as an example of disruptive, acting out behavior (e. …