A Gender Prototypicality Theory of Adolescent Peer Popularity

Despite its salience to adolescents and its relevance for behavioral adjustment, there are few theories explaining the development of peer popularity. In this article, the authors present a gender prototypicality theory of the development of popularity. Popularity refers to social visibility, power, and prestige among peers. Gender prototypicality theory argues that popularity as a distinct form of peer status emerges at the transition to adolescence, as a byproduct of intensifying cross-sex peer interactions and competition for opposite-sex attention as romantic development intensifies. The theory further argues that popularity will be ascribed disproportionately to young adolescents who conform to gender-typical roles in appearance, behavior, and other features, as these youth are more likely to attract the opposite-sex attention that contributes to social status among peers. Given the salience of emerging romantic interactions at this developmental period, adolescents who are leading the way in spending time with the opposite sex are likely to garner considerable attention from peers. This confluence of events begins the process of consolidation of social power into a relatively small proportion of the peer group.