The relationship between social skills, social interaction, and popularity was examined. The subjects were 198 children in third and fourth grades in middle- and low-income schools. The relationships between number of friends, socioeconomic status, and grade level were studied in a 2 times 2 times 2 factorial design with 2 sets of dependent measures: (1) social skills were assessed by an experimenter testing each child individually on a set of tasks which included measures of the ability to label emotions in facial expressions, knowledge of how to make friends, giving help, and role-taking ability; and (2) social interaction in the classroom was assessed using a naturalistic observational system. Popular and unpopular children differed in their knowledge of how to make friends and on the referential-communication task. In the classroom, popular children distributed and received more positive reinforcement than unpopular children and spent less time daydreaming. Both grade and social class factors were significant. However, different patterns of results contributed to the main effect of friends and the grade-level main effect. The importance of assessing social skills which are first validated by reference to a criterion such as sociometric position was noted.

The high incidence of depression among older men has been linked to numerous factors. In this qualitative descriptive study of 30 older, Canadian-based men who experienced depression, we explored the connections between participants' depression, masculinities, work, and retirement. Our analyses revealed three thematic findings. The recursive relationship between depression and work was reflected in depression impeding and emerging from paid work, whereby men's careers and work achievements were negatively impacted by depression amid assertions that unfulfilling work could also invoke depression. Lost or unrealized empires highlighted the centrality of wealth accumulation and negative impact of many participants' unfulfilled paid work aspirations. Retirement as loss and the therapeutic value of work reflected how masculine ideals influenced men to continue working to avoid the losses they associated with retirement. The findings confirm the need to support men's work-related transitions by affirming a diversity of masculine identities beyond traditional workman/breadwinner roles.

The relationship between social skills, social interaction, and popularity was examined. The subjects were 198 children in third and fourth grades in middle- and low-income schools. The relationships between number of friends, socioeconomic status, and grade level were studied in a 2 times 2 times 2 factorial design with 2 sets of dependent measures: (1) social skills were assessed by an experimenter testing each child individually on a set of tasks which included measures of the ability to label emotions in facial expressions, knowledge of how to make friends, giving help, and role-taking ability; and (2) social interaction in the classroom was assessed using a naturalistic observational system. Popular and unpopular children differed in their knowledge of how to make friends and on the referential-communication task. In the classroom, popular children distributed and received more positive reinforcement than unpopular children and spent less time daydreaming. Both grade and social class factors were significant. However, different patterns of results contributed to the main effect of friends and the grade-level main effect. The importance of assessing social skills which are first validated by reference to a criterion such as sociometric position was noted.

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