Bias and Accuracy in Children's Perceived Acceptance

The influence of sex and ethnic differences on the accuracy and bias in children's perceived acceptance is an area of research that has generally been overlooked and is important to investigate because such differences may help determine how children will function when interacting with others. Additionally, the way in which children interpret these interactions may in turn impact their mental well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of sex and ethnic differences on the accuracy and bias of children's perceived acceptance as perceivers (male/female; African American/Caucasian) predicting their social standing among a reference group (same-sex/other-sex; same-ethnicity/other-ethnicity). Archival data of sociometric ratings received from children in grades 3 through 5 (n=923) was used to form measures of dyadic accuracy, dyadic perceptual bias and general perceptual bias. This study revealed the following main findings: 1) children are more accurate in determining their peer acceptance among reference groups of similar sex and ethnicity, 2) girls have overly positive whereas boys have overly negative perceptions of their peer acceptance among same-sex peers at the dyadic level, and 3) African American children tend to overestimate peer acceptance whereas Caucasian children are likely to underestimate their peer acceptance, although the pattern of results differed slightly for dyadic and general bias. This investigation has extended prior research by identifying the sex and ethnicity of children whose self-perceptions are not in line with their actual level of peer acceptance as well as the composition of those peer groups who pose the greatest challenge for them when making decisions regarding their peer acceptance.