There have been extremely few studies concerned, from the standpoint of developmental trends, with the differentiation of children's sociometric status position on different kinds of criteria, though there are many which dealt with it only from the standpoint of the reliability of the sociometric technique. The present study represents an attempt to determine the developmental trend, if any, observed in relation to the differentiation of sociometric status, CRS (choice-rejection status scores) and choice status, among several criteria (best friend, study companion, cleaning work companion, seating companion, lunch companion on an excursion, and sports companion). Ss were from grade 2 through 8 ; 5 classrooms of 2nd- and 8th-graders, 6 each of 4th- and 6th- graders, respectively. Sociometric test on each criterion was administered to those Ss on every Monday and Thursday between Feb. 4 and Feb. 24, 1965. Product-moment correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the intra-criteria differentiation of children's sociometric status on several criteria. An analysis and comparison of the data revealed the following findings :

(1) All the correlation coefficients on Table 1 through Table 10 were statistically significant beyond the .01 level. The obtained results indicate that there is a high and significant relationship among the children's sociometric status position as shown in expressed preferences for best friend, study companion, work companion, seating companion, lunch companion on an excursion, and sports companion. They, also, point toward a "general social acceptability factor" operating in the choice process. (2) Correlation coefficients between CRS obtained on "best friend" criterion and on each one of other five criteria were, in general, very high in the 2nd grade, and significantly higher than those in the 8th grade. This indicates that the 8th-grader's sociometric status was differentiated among various criteria to a greater extent than the 2nd-grader's (Tables 1-3). (3) A relatively clear-cut tendency for the correlation coefficients to decrease was revealed between CRS obtained on "best friend" criterion and those on "lunch companion on an excursion" criterion and, between CRS obtained on "best friend" and those on "sports companion". Roughly speaking, similar tendencies, though not so clear-cut, were observed between CRS on "best friend" and on each one of other criteria. These facts suggest that inter-criteria differentiation of children's sociometric status proceeds to some extent with an increase in grade level (Table 3). (4) The similar developmental trends were found when sociometric status was determined by the number of choices received, except the fact that the clear-cut decreasing tendency in the correlation coefficients was observed only in "best friend" and "sports companion" combination (Tables 4 and 5). (5) Correlation coefficients between CRS and the number of choices obtained on "study companion", and those on each one of other criteria showed the same trends, in general, as those in (3) above, but the correlation coefficients between sociometric status (in either one) on "study companion" and that on "workcompanion", and those between sociometric status on "study companion" and that on "seating companion" seemed to remain rather constant in the elementary school children (Tables 6-10), which results were interpreted as indicating their lack in inter-criteria differentiation.