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This study examined subtypes of popular 4th-6th grade boys (N = 452).Popular-prosocial (model) and popular-antisocial (tough) configurations were identified by means of teacher ratings and compared with peer and self-assessments and social centrality measures.Peers perceived model boys as cool, athletic, leaders, cooperative, studious, not shy, and nonaggressive.Peers perceived tough boys as cool, athletic, and antisocial.Model boys saw themselves as nonaggressive and academically competent.Tough boys saw themselves as popular, aggressive, and physically competent.Tough boys were disproportionately African American, particularly when African Americans were a minority in their classrooms.Model and tough boys were overrepresented at nuclear social centrality levels.These findings suggest that highly aggressive boys can be among the most popular and socially connected children in elementary classrooms.The move from conceptualizing unpopular children as a uniform group to recognizing distinct configurations of unpopular children has been a key area of progress in the study of children's peer relationships (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 1998).Some unpopular (e.g., peer rejected) children are highly aggressive, others are extremely withdrawn, still others are both aggressive and withdrawn, and others still resist classification along externalizing or internalizing dimensions (Cillessen,
Rodkin et al. (Sat,) studied this question.