The relationship between altruistic behavior and popularity found in young children becomes much less defined with older children. In a paired-comparison procedure, 144 children from two elementary schools ranked the relative attractiveness as a potential friend of four fictional children described as altruistic, prosocial-aggressive, good at sports, or group-oriented. The sociometric status of the children on these variables was also assessed, in addition to liking measures. The results revealed marked sex and grade differences both in the rankings and in the correlations of the sociometric measures. In general, both boys and girls ranked the altruistic child highest and the group-oriented child a close second, with the prosocial-aggressive and good-at-sports child considerably lower. However, the sociometric data revealed a much different picture of how these variables could predict actual liking among this sample, especially among the older children. While all variables were significantly correlated with liking in the third grade sample, only group orientation and being protective of friends predicted liking in sixth grade boys, and only being good at sports predicted liking for sixth grade girls. Most importantly, the correlations between altruism and liking declined significantly in the older children such that altruism bore no relationship to social acceptance nor to any of the remaining sociometric variables. These results are consistent with recent research showing that altruistic behavior may have a questionable status among preadolescents (especially boys). (Author/NRB)