A Distinction Between Social Acceptance and Prestige Among Adolescents

To reveal some of the social pressures which are exerted by an adolescent group on its members, relationships between peer group ratings on certain traits and measures of social acceptance have been found. The results have been interpreted frequently as indicating prestige factors among adolescents (2, 0o, 13). But the terms social acceptance and prestige have different meanings. Social acceptance connotes intimate face-to-face contacts which are in some way satisfying. Prestige, on the other hand, indicates the possession of admired or respected characteristics. A trait may be associated with prestige but not with social acceptance. It was the purpose of this study to test the hypothesis that, among adolescents, ratings of social acceptance and ratings of prestige show different degrees of association with other trait ratings.