Social Position Shapes the Stability of Behavioral Adjustment to Group Norms

<p>Social norms shape behavior, yet individuals may differ not only in how much they adjust their behavior toward prevailing norms but also in how consistently they do so over time. We examined whether individuals’ social positions were associated with two distinct aspects of behavioral adjustment to descriptive norms: the mean level of adjustment and its temporal stability. Using four waves of longitudinal peer-network data collected across two academic years from 311 children, we quantified adjustment toward contemporaneous classroom norms for prosocial and aggressive behavior across successive wave transitions. Social position was assessed using peer-reported social acceptance, friendship nominations received, and victimization. Across both behavioral domains and all three social position indicators, social position was unrelated to mean levels of adjustment. By contrast, individuals in less favorable social positions showed greater variability in behavioral adjustment across time. Furthermore, social position consistently moderated the association between prior and subsequent behavioral adjustment across wave transitions: individuals in less favorable positions showed less consistent adjustment from one wave-to-wave interval to the next, whereas those in more favorable positions showed relatively stable temporal patterns. These associations remained after accounting for contemporaneous behavioral levels and initial similarity to classroom norms. Together, these findings show that social position is associated with the temporal stability of behavioral adjustment to prevailing norms, even when it is generally unrelated to the mean level of such adjustment. Considering temporal stability alongside mean levels may therefore provide a more complete account of individual differences in how people respond to social norms.</p>