Psychological Development and Education ›› 2015, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (3): 303-310.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2015.03.07

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The Mediating Role of Social Behavior between Children's Trust in Peers and Peer Acceptance and Its Gender Difference

LI Qinggong, WU Sufang, FU Genyue   

  1. Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang 321004, China
  • Online:2015-05-15 Published:2015-05-15

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Abstract: Previous studies have consistently shown that children's trust in others has positive effect on their peer relationship. However, the mechanism of how children's trust influence peer relationship is still unclear. This study tested the mediating role of social behavior on the relation between trust in peers and peer acceptance. The gender difference of the effect was also explored. Participants were 366 children (198 boys and 168 girls) from grade 3 to grade 6. Participants were tested on trust in peers, social behavior (i.e., prosocial behavior, withdrawal behavior, aggressive behavior), and peer acceptance. The results revealed:(1) Both prosocial and withdrawal behaviors were significant mediators on the relation between children's trust and peer acceptance, whereas the mediating effect of aggressive behavior was not significant. (2) There were also significant gender differences in the mediating effect of social behavior: the mediating effect of prosocial behavior was stronger for girls than boys and the mediating effect of withdrawal behavior was stronger for boys than girls. These findings thus offer a new insight into how children's trust influences their peer relationship.

Key words: trust, peer acceptance, social behavior, mediating effect, gender difference

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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