AN EXAMINATION OF CONVERSATIONAL SKILL IN ACCEPTED AND REJECTED CHILDREN (SOCIAL SKILLS, VERBAL BEHAVIOR, SPEECH)

JOYCE VOGEL, Purdue University

Abstract

Conversations of forty pairs of third graders were transcribed and analyzed for the occurrence of seventeen categories of verbal behavior that were thought to index the process of listening to, paying attention to, or indicating interest in the other member of the dyad. Members of each dyad were of the same sex and paired according to sociometric status so that either both members were accepted, both rejected, or one member accepted and one rejected. Conversations were transcribed from videotaped interactions of these dyads as they occurred in an experimental room during a two-minute waiting period and a four-minute conversational period. Trained raters coded the transcribed conversations for the frequency of occurrence of each category of behavior under investigation. The eight categories with the highest reliability were subjected to a series of multivariate analyses of variance with sex and status as between-group factors and segment as a within-group factor. In addition to the multivariate analyses, Pearson product-moment correlations were computed to assess the degree of linearity between the observed frequency of occurrence of each category with every other category. Purely descriptive information on the frequency of occurrence of each individual category was also presented. Significant main effects for status, sex and segment were found in the multivariate analyses. Correlations among code categories varied widely across categories. Many were near-zero while others were highly significant. Frequency of occurrence of individual categories was also found to vary widely. Results are interpreted in terms of previous social skills research and suggestions for future research are offered.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Psychotherapy

COinS