There is evidence to suggest that the context of the school lunchrooms provides children with rich opportunities for enhancing or hampering the quality of their relationships (Craig, Gregus, Elledge, Pastrana, & Cavell, 2016; Steggerda et al., in preparation). Although past research has linked children’s peer acceptance to their level of internalizing symptoms, few studies have examined peer acceptance within the lunchroom context. This study extends that work by examining associations between lunchroom peer acceptance (assessed via self- and peer-reports) and children’s internalizing symptoms. Participants were 676 fourth-grade students (50.7% female; 42.7% Hispanic/Latino, 30.3% White, 10% Pacific Islander, and 17% other) from 10 public schools. I hypothesized that self-reported lunchroom peer acceptance would predict children’s internalizing symptoms over and above peer ratings of lunchroom peer acceptance as well as over more traditional measures of classroom-based social preference. As expected, self-rated lunchtime liking in the fall semester significantly predicted both depressive and social anxiety symptoms in the spring semester of one school year; these predictions were similar for boys versus girls. Implications of findings and future directions for research are discussed.
","abstract_html":"<p>There is evidence to suggest that the context of the school lunchrooms provides children with rich opportunities for enhancing or hampering the quality of their relationships (Craig, Gregus, Elledge, Pastrana, & Cavell, 2016; Steggerda et al., in preparation). Although past research has linked children’s peer acceptance to their level of internalizing symptoms, few studies have examined peer acceptance within the lunchroom context. This study extends that work by examining associations between lunchroom peer acceptance (assessed via self- and peer-reports) and children’s internalizing symptoms. Participants were 676 fourth-grade students (50.7% female; 42.7% Hispanic/Latino, 30.3% White, 10% Pacific Islander, and 17% other) from 10 public schools. I hypothesized that self-reported lunchroom peer acceptance would predict children’s internalizing symptoms over and above peer ratings of lunchroom peer acceptance as well as over more traditional measures of classroom-based social preference. As expected, self-rated lunchtime liking in the fall semester significantly predicted both depressive and social anxiety symptoms in the spring semester of one school year; these predictions were similar for boys versus girls. Implications of findings and future directions for research are discussed.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Steggerda, Jake"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Bridges, Ana J.","Behrend, Douglas A."],"advisors":["Cavell, Timothy A."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:59:40Z","subjects":["Children","Depression","Internalizing Symptoms","Lunchroom","Peer Acceptance","School","Social Anxiety","Child Psychology","Cognition and Perception","Developmental Psychology","School Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3589","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Bridges, Ana J.","Behrend, Douglas A."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Cavell, Timothy A."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Steggerda, Jake"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-11-08T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Children","Depression","Internalizing Symptoms","Lunchroom","Peer Acceptance","School","Social Anxiety","Child Psychology","Cognition and Perception","Developmental Psychology","School Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3589"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["There is evidence to suggest that the context of the school lunchrooms provides children with rich opportunities for enhancing or hampering the quality of their relationships (Craig, Gregus, Elledge, Pastrana, & Cavell, 2016; Steggerda et al., in preparation). Although past research has linked children’s peer acceptance to their level of internalizing symptoms, few studies have examined peer acceptance within the lunchroom context. This study extends that work by examining associations between lunchroom peer acceptance (assessed via self- and peer-reports) and children’s internalizing symptoms. Participants were 676 fourth-grade students (50.7% female; 42.7% Hispanic/Latino, 30.3% White, 10% Pacific Islander, and 17% other) from 10 public schools. I hypothesized that self-reported lunchroom peer acceptance would predict children’s internalizing symptoms over and above peer ratings of lunchroom peer acceptance as well as over more traditional measures of classroom-based social preference. As expected, self-rated lunchtime liking in the fall semester significantly predicted both depressive and social anxiety symptoms in the spring semester of one school year; these predictions were similar for boys versus girls. Implications of findings and future directions for research are discussed.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Peer Acceptance in the Lunchroom and Children’s Internalizing Symptoms"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Bridges, Ana J.","Behrend, Douglas A."],"dc:contributor.advisor":["Cavell, Timothy A."],"dc:creator":["Steggerda, Jake"],"dc:date":["2020"],"dc:date.available":["2020-11-08T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["There is evidence to suggest that the context of the school lunchrooms provides children with rich opportunities for enhancing or hampering the quality of their relationships (Craig, Gregus, Elledge, Pastrana, & Cavell, 2016; Steggerda et al., in preparation). Although past research has linked children’s peer acceptance to their level of internalizing symptoms, few studies have examined peer acceptance within the lunchroom context. This study extends that work by examining associations between lunchroom peer acceptance (assessed via self- and peer-reports) and children’s internalizing symptoms. Participants were 676 fourth-grade students (50.7% female; 42.7% Hispanic/Latino, 30.3% White, 10% Pacific Islander, and 17% other) from 10 public schools. I hypothesized that self-reported lunchroom peer acceptance would predict children’s internalizing symptoms over and above peer ratings of lunchroom peer acceptance as well as over more traditional measures of classroom-based social preference. As expected, self-rated lunchtime liking in the fall semester significantly predicted both depressive and social anxiety symptoms in the spring semester of one school year; these predictions were similar for boys versus girls. Implications of findings and future directions for research are discussed.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3589"],"dc:subject":["Children","Depression","Internalizing Symptoms","Lunchroom","Peer Acceptance","School","Social Anxiety","Child Psychology","Cognition and Perception","Developmental Psychology","School Psychology"],"dc:title":["Peer Acceptance in the Lunchroom and Children’s Internalizing Symptoms"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in Psychology (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:59:40Z"}