Social goals and peer relationships in early adolescence. [Buts sociaux et relations entre pairs au début de l’adolescence] Are the individual’s goals related to his/her perception by peers ? [Les buts de l’individu sont-ils liés à la perception que ses pairs ont de lui ?] - Article - Mars 2006

The study was aimed to identify the main social goals of adolescents in peer interactions, the sex differences of these goals, and their relationships with sociometric variables : popularity and reputation among peers. 335 early adolescents filled out a questionnaire measuring their social goals, popularity and reputation. Relying on an exploratory factor analysis, three social goals scales were constructed : agency, communion, and betrayal. Agency and betrayal were higher for boys, communion was higher for girls. Popularity, aggressive reputation and isolated reputation varied according to the level of these social goals.