BEHAVIORAL-CORRELATES OF FRIENDSHIP STATUS AMONG ITALIAN SCHOOLCHILDREN

The purpose of the present study is to examine whether friendship stat us, in terms of reciprocity and perceived quality of the relationship, is related to behavioural characteristics of school-aged children, as evaluated by themselves and their teachers. Children's nominations fo r 'best friends', a questionnaire on children's perception of friendsh ip quality and self-evaluation of social behaviour were administered t o middle-class Italian primary school children, aged 9-10 years. Teach ers' ratings of each pupil's social behaviour were also obtained. Part ners in reciprocal friendships (both boys and girls) estimated their o wn prosocial behaviour higher than children who did not have any recip rocal friends in their classes. Higher scores for perceived friendship quality were positively related with higher scores on self-perception s of prosocial behaviour. Furthermore, the teachers' ratings depict ch ildren with reciprocal friends as more prosocial, less aggressive and less emotionally unstable than others.