A total of 28 middle class preschool children ranging in age from 3.5 to 5.5 years participated in a study designed to identify characteristic behaviors of children differing in their social acceptance by peers. Indexes of social acceptance and rejection were obtained through a peer nomination procedure based on queries about most and least preferred playmates. Acceptance and rejection scores were used to assign subjects to four social status groups: popular, rejected, controversial, and neglected. Each child's interaction in a setting promoting social play was observed and videotaped on three occasions for a total of 60 minutes. Children interacted in triads: on one occasion the target child was an "intruder" into a dyad, and twice the target child was a member of a dyad intruded upon. Three aspects of social interaction were coded and analyzed: (1) children's direction of communication toward others, (2) the types of initiations children made to each other, and (3) the types of responses children made to the initiations of others. For each of the four social status groups, distinct patterns of social interaction and communication were found. Results indicated patterns of social interaction leading to social acceptance, rejection, and isolation. (Implications of the findings for remedial intervention by teachers are discussed.) (RH)