A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE ASSIMILATION OF THE NEW CHILD IN THE GROUP
Abstract
The process of the assimilation of the newcomer in the group was traced by means of repeated sociometrics, self reports of the newcomers, and teacher ratings of the newcomers' adjustment, administered over an eleven-week period in twentyeight elementary school classes to which a new student had been assigned. The data were collected during the afternoon following the newcomers' introduction and again one, two, three, five, seven, and eleven weeks later. The results indicated that (a) girls were assimilated more readily than boys; (b) students in grades one, two and three were assimilated more readily than those in grades four, five, and six; (c) the newcomers' popularity during the first afternoon in the classroom and their popularity eleven weeks later were correlated substantially (r = 0.45); (d) the newcomers' sociometric choices were less popular than the choices of the regular members, but the differences diminished over time; and (e) newcomers changed their socimetric choices more frequently than regular members. Finally the results suggested that the newcomers' mean popularity during the eleven-week period described a U-shaped curve with a marked decline in the early weeks. Several hypotheses were proposed to explain these findings. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0262236
Entities
People
- Ralph V. Exline
- Richard D. Behringer
- Robert C. Ziller
Organizations
- University of Delaware