Relation of Person-Centered Peer Behavior Profiles to Individual, Relationship, and Group Measures of Peer Social Competence

Positive peer relations are critical for successful social development, with sociability, aggressive, and withdrawn behaviors making particularly fundamental contributions. Traditionally, these sets of behaviors have been considered using a variable-centered approach. The present research, with 3rd through 5th graders, used a person-centered approach to empirically discover behavior profiles from peer behavior nominations. Using Latent Profile Analysis, three profiles were identified: High Social (high sociability, low aggressive, low withdrawn behaviors), Low Engagement (low sociability, low aggressive, high withdrawn behaviors), and High Visibility (moderate sociability, high aggressive, and low withdrawn behaviors). Relating these profiles to a variety of peer social competence measures, the High Social children had the most positive evaluations, the Low Engagement children had the most negative evaluations, and interestingly, the High Visibility children had a mix of both positive and negative evaluations. Results underscore the complexity of the relation between behaviors and peer social competence and highlight the value of a person-centered approach relating behaviors to peer social competence.