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Young School-Age Boys' Use of Social Comparison Standards in Judging Running Ability

The purpose of the present descriptive study was to explore the influence of friendship status and running skill on school-age boys' social comparison production. Specifically, the frequency, function, and content of social comparison statements produced before, during, and after a running task were examined. Forty pairs of first and second grade boys were filmed as they: rated their own running ability; rated their classmates' running ability; rated classmates as friends and nonfriends using a sociometric nomination procedure; participated in an interview/timed running task with a partner; and answered a post-race questionnaire. Social comparison statements were identified and coded for content and function from video recordings. Boys primarily liked or loved running, perceived themselves to be "very good" or "excellent" and "very fast" or "fast" runners, and rated friends as being faster runners than nonfriends. Boys made primarily superiority/inferiority statements centered on their running performance and attributes of their performance. No grade differences were found in the frequency, function, and content of children's social comparison statements. While the frequency of social comparison statements did not vary by friendship status, multiple significant differences in social comparison frequency, content, and function were identified when running ability of the comparer, running ability of the comparee, and friendship status were considered together. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2005. / April 28, 2005. / Self-Evaluation Of Ability, Classroom Environment, Achievement Evaluation, Athletic Competence, Performance Evaluation, Social Comparison, Task Performance, Ability Evaluation / Includes bibliographical references. / Christine A. Readdick, Professor Directing Dissertation; Nicholas Mazza, Outside Committee Member; Ronald L. Mullis, Committee Member.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_176218
ContributorsTaliano, Kimberly A. (authoraut), Readdick, Christine A. (professor directing dissertation), Mazza, Nicholas (outside committee member), Mullis, Ronald L. (committee member), Department of Family and Child Sciences (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution)
PublisherFlorida State University, Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, text
Format1 online resource, computer, application/pdf
RightsThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them.

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