Discussion Paper Series

Discussion Paper 101

Issued January 2006

Dominance in Preschool Classrooms: Change Across a School Year

Anthony D. Pellegrini, University of Minnesota
Cary Roseth, University of Minnesota
Shanna Mliner, University of Minnesota
Catherine M. Bohn, University of Minnesota
Mark Van Ryzin, University of Minnesota
N. Vance, University of Minnesota
Carol Cheatham, University of Minnesota
Amanda Tarullo, University of Minnesota

Abstract

We examined the ways in which preschool children’s agonistic and cooperative behaviors related to their social dominance. First, two common assumptions associated with theories of social dominance were tested. We hypothesized that directly observed agonistic interactions would decrease across the school year and that same-sex agonism would be greater than cross-sex agonism. Both of these hypotheses were supported. The relation between agonistic behaviors, affiliation (cooperation and reconciliation), and social display variables (physical size and peer visual regard) and “wins” in agonistic bouts was also examined. Results indicated that agonism was more frequently followed by adult intervention than peer reconciliation. Further, agonistic and cooperative behaviors and social display variables related to “wins” in resource contests. Finally, we examined the relative power of “wins”, cooperation, and physical size in predicting social dominance (assessed in a series of resource acquisition tasks). Physical size and “wins” were inter-correlated in predicting social dominance but cooperation and physical size made unique and significant contributions. Results are discussed in terms of the ways in which contests for resources were affected by the school ethos.

The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Early Childhood Research Collaborative.

Paper [PDF]