Washington: A research conducted at the University of Maryland looks at the numerous complex reasons as to why young children decide to include or exclude   other kids from their group of friends. It suggests that the kids' decision-making process is much more complex than previously believed. "They take into account group information, ranging from cliques   and networks, when deciding what makes a group work well. Sometimes kids are excluded because they lack social skills, but a lot of time it has nothing to do with that. Instead it has to do with what we refer to as 'group membership' such as gender, race, nation, and culture," says Professor Melanie Killen, the Associate Director of the Centre for Children Relationships and Culture at Maryland, who led the 4-year project. Reporting their findings in the journal, the researcher said whatever was the reason, individuals who experienced long-term exclusion   from the group of friends suffered from depression, anxiety and loneliness. The study looked at two models to define how children make decisions regarding acceptance of other kids in their group -- the individual social _ model and the inter-group social cognition   model. While the former says that children's rejection occurs due to social deficits like shyness, wariness or fearfulness, the latter says that it happens because of group dynamics, prejudice and exclusion. It was also found that the age of children was also a factor that influenced their decisions regarding other kids' acceptance as friends. "With age, kids become more aware of group dynamics, conventions, customs, and rituals. With this comes a greater concern about group functioning, which can lead to exclusion which can be negative from a social justice viewpoint," says Killen. The researcher believes that her study may have many benefits, as it could provide insights into how to help when children are rejected by their peers. While making friends, kids think more about the following EXCEPT   _  .
social skills culture race gender