“Being Fun” Is An Important Marker Of Social Status Among Children

By Emma Young When my 9-year-old has his best friend over to play, the house is filled with the sound of giggles. Yes, this friend plays fair, is outgoing and shares my son’s interests. But he’s also good fun. Any parent knows that kids this age are obsessed with having fun (something that’s in short supply for many home-schoolers right now). And yet “being fun” has been overlooked as an indicator of a child’s social status, argue the authors of a new paper, published in the International Journal of Psychology. Their new studies are, they say, the first to establish it as a unique factor important for understanding social hierarchies among kids. Within groups of children, social status is fluid, note Brett Laursen at Florida Atlantic University and colleagues. So far, researchers have identified and studied two factors that are the main drivers of a child’s potentially fluctuating status: likeability and popularity. There is some overlap between the two. Both involve being outgoing and prosocial, for instance. But there are also some differences. For example, a popular kid might sometimes be physically aggressive. This can raise their social status while reducing their likeability. However, being “fun to be with” is conspicuously missing from the list of traits associated with being well-liked or popular, the authors argue. And yet, as they note, having fun is not only intrinsically socially rewarding but could bring other benefits — f...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Developmental Social Source Type: blogs