top
A-Z20182019Previous ConferencesConference Articles
二维码
 
Articles
  • OpenAccess
  • Popularity among Teenage Girls in Adelaide and Shanghai: A Pilot Q-Method Study  [CPSH 2014]
  • DOI: 10.4236/jss.2014.25016   PP.80 - 85
  • Author(s)
  • Laurence Owens, Huaran Feng, Juzhe Xi
  • ABSTRACT
  • Being popular is of crucial importance to adolescents and particularly to teenage girls. In the past, popularity was measured via sociometric ratings and was seen as being well liked and accepted. In recent years, western researchers have asked teens themselves to express their views of popularity. This has led to a new view of popularity as being publically visible and prestigious and not necessarily well-liked. To investigate teenage girls’ perceptions of popularity we utilized Q methodology which is concerned with the scientific study of subjectivity. Our samples were 40 14 - 16 year old girls from Adelaide, South Australia, and 53 16 - 19 year old girls from Shanghai, China. The South Australian study revealed two factors, the first (reported in this paper) called “pretty girl popularity” was concerned with physical attractiveness and fashionable appearance, and characterized by an anti-authority attitude. In the Shanghai sample, only one dominant factor emerged—it defined popular girls as being even tempered, sincere, forgiving, outgoing and energetic while unpopular girls were seen as being relationally aggressive and self-centred. The differences between our two samples may be related to the different cultural contexts of Adelaide and Shanghai, the former relating to an individualistic ethic and the latter concerned more with social harmony.
  • KEYWORDS
  • Popularity, Teenage Girls, Cultural Differences, Q Method
  • References
  • [1]
    Asher, S.R. and Coie, J.D. (1990) Peer Rejection in Childhood. Cambridge University Press, New York.
    [2]
    Rubin, K.H., Bukowski, W.M. and Parker, J.G. (1998) Peer Interactions, Relationships, and Groups. In: Eisenberg, N., Ed., Handbook of Child Psychology: Vol. 3. Social, Emotional, and Personality Development. 5th Edition, Wiley, New York.
    [3]
    Coie, J.D. and Dodge, K.A. (1983) Continuities and Changes in Children’s Social Status: A Five-Year Longitudinal Study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 29, 261-282.
    [4]
    Parkhurst, J.T. and Asher, S.R. (1992) Peer Rejection in Middle School: Subgroup Differences in Behavior, Loneliness, and Interpersonal Concerns. Developmental Psychology, 28, 231-241.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.28.2.231
    [5]
    Adler, P.A. and Adler, P. (1995) Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion in Preadolescent Cliques. Social Psychology Quarterly, 58, 145-162.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2787039
    [6]
    Adler, P.A. and Adler, P. (1996) Preadolescent Clique Stratification and the Hierarchy of Identity. Sociological Inquiry, 66, 111-142.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.1996.tb00213.x
    [7]
    Eder, D., Evans, C.C. and Parker, S. (1995) School Talk. Gender and Adolescent Culture. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick.
    [8]
    Merten, D.E. (1997) The Meaning of Meanness: Popularity, Competition, and Conflict among Junior High School Girls. Sociology of Education, 70, 175-191.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2673207
    [9]
    De Bruyn, E.H. and Cillessen, A.H.N. (2006) Heterogeneity of Girls’ Consensual Popularity: Academic and Interpersonal Behavioral Profiles. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 435-445.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-005-9023-4
    [10]
    Lafontana, K.M. and Cillessen, A.H.N. (2002) Children’s Perceptions of Popular and Unpopular Peers: A Multimethod Assessment. Developmental Psychology, 38, 635-647.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.38.5.635
    [11]
    Duncan, N. (2004) It’s Important to Be Nice, but It’s Nicer to Be Important: Girls, Popularity and Sexual Competition. Sex Education, 4, 137-152.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14681810410001678329
    [12]
    Owens, L., Shute, R. & Slee, P. (2000) "Guess what I just heard!" Indirect aggression among teenage girls in Australia. Aggressive Behavior, 26, 67-83.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(2000)26:1<67::AID-AB6>3.0.CO;2-C
    [13]
    Owens, L., Shute, R. and Slee, P. (2001) Victimization among Teenage Girls. What Can Be Done about Indirect Harassment? In: Juvonen, J. and Graham, S., Eds., School-Based Peer Harassment: The Plight of the Vulnerable and Victimized. Guilford.
    [14]
    Owens, L., Shute, R. and Slee, P. (2000) “I’m in and You’re out...” Explanations for Teenage Girls’ Indirect Aggression. Psychology, Evolution & Gender, 2, 19-46.
    [15]
    Stephenson, W. (1953) The Study of Behavior: Q-Technique and Its Methodology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
    [16]
    Brown, S.R. (2003) Q Methodology. In: Lewis-Beck, M.S., Bryman, A. and Futing Liao, T., Eds., The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks.
    [17]
    Brown, S.R. (2008) Q Methodology. In Given, L.M., Ed., The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods. Sage, Thousand Oaks.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412963909.n350
    [18]
    Watts, S. and Stenner, P. (2012) Doing Q Methodological Research. Sage Publications, London.
    [19]
    Schmolck, P. and Atkinson, J. (2013) PQMethod (2.33). Computer Program.
    http://www.qmethod.org
    [20]
    Owens, L. and Duncan, N. (2009) “Druggies” and “Barbie Dolls”: Popularity among Teenage Girls in Two South Australian Schools. Journal of Human Subjectivity, 7, 39-63.
    [21]
    Li, Y., Wang, M., Wang, C. and Shi, J. (2010) Individualism, Collectivism, and Aggression: Intracultural Variations. Aggressive Behavior, 36, 187-533.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ab.20341
    [22]
    Li, Y., Xie, H. and Shi, J. (2012) Chinese and American Children’s Perception of Popularity Determinants: Cultural Differences and Behavioral Correlates. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 6, 1-10.
    [23]
    Fujihara, T., Kohyama, T., Andreu, J. and Ramirez, M.J. (1999) Justification of Interpersonal Aggression in Japanese, American and Spanish Students. Aggressive Behavior, 25, 185-195.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(1999)25:3<185::AID-AB3>3.0.CO;2-K
    [24]
    Glendinning, A. and Inglis, D. (1999) Smoking Behaviour in Youth: The Problem of Low Self-Esteem? Journal of Adolescence, 22, 673-682.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jado.1999.0262
    [25]
    Corsara, W.A. and Eder, D. (1990) Children’s Peer Cultures. Annual Review of Sociology, 16, 197-220.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.16.080190.001213
    [26]
    Moffitt, T.E. (2003) Life-Course-Persistent and Adolescence-Limited Antisocial Behavior—A 10-Year Research Review and a Research Agenda.

Engineering Information Institute is the member of/source content provider to

http://www.scirp.org http://www.hanspub.org/ http://www.crossref.org/index.html http://www.oalib.com/ http://www.ebscohost.com/ http://www.proquest.co.uk/en-UK/aboutus/default.shtml http://ip-science.thomsonreuters.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jlresults.cgi?PC=MASTER&Full=journal%20of%20Bioequivalence%20%26%20Bioavailability http://publishers.indexcopernicus.com/index.php