Sociometrically Popular Adolescents

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According to oxford dictionary, popularity is the state or condition of being liked, admired, or supported by many people. A critical feature of the concept popularity is that it refers to the status of an individual entity within the group. A particular person cannot be popular without the presence of a group to give this status (Cillessen, Schwartz, & Mayeux 2011). Popularity is a form of status. As a form of status, it is a form of power. The term popularity can have two different meanings. It can refer to being well liked and accepted or “sociometrically” popular or to high status as a result of being seen as popular and high ranking or “perceived” popular (Cillessen et.al 2011). Sociometrically popular adolescents are mainly characterized in positive ways. (Newcomb, 1993 as cited by Meijs, 2010) found sociometrically popular adolescents to behave in prosocial ways, and exhibit low levels of aggression and social withdrawal. Rodkin et al. (2000) found that sociometrically popular boys are seen as prosocial, nonaggressive, and studious. Perceived popular adolescents demonstrate both positive and negative qualities. They are characterized as cool, powerful, influential, arrogant, exclusionary, elitist, manipulative, controlling, and aggressive. Furthermore, they tend to engage in highly visible and prestigious activities …show more content…

Popularity is related to different positive and negative characteristics in adolescence, such as antisocial and prosocial behavior, aggression, attractiveness and athleticism (Dijkstra, 2009 as cited by Ham, 2009). Popularity matters a lot for teenagers. There are traits that have been shown to occur more commonly among teens who are popular. Characteristics such as being good communicators, dressing well, appearing confident, knowing what is cool, and athleticism. (Hudson,

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