While there are some studies that have looked at sociometric status among adults, the measure is primarily used with children and adolescents to make inferences about peer relations and social competence.
[7] Popular children tend to display higher social skills than other groups, and they are often described as cooperators or leaders.
[6] They can easily think of effective ways to start interactions or resolve conflicts with their peers, and they can recognise other people's emotions better.
[8][9] Most studies find that they display less aggressive and disruptive behaviours than rejected or controversial children, but it has been suggested that this isn't an inherent characteristic.
[5] Most studies show that they display more aggressive behaviours than other groups of children, and they tend to have lower communicative skills.
[13] Furthermore, despite their low social skills, they manage to outperform others in academic achievements, having higher levels of motivation and independence.
[14] Controversial children, combining characteristics of popular and rejected profiles, are very liked by some peers, but actively disliked by others.
[7] Whether the sociometric status stays stable across time is important because it indicates the stability of actual peer relations and liking/disliking mechanisms in a group.
[4] Bukowski and Newcomb (1985) found that sociometric status remained stable in school-aged children even when there were changes in the size and composition of the group due to transitioning from elementary to middle school.
[4][16] When it comes to gender, a larger proportion of boys in the group is correlated with lower stability, but the exact mechanism for this association is unknown.