Examined the perception of basic primary group criteria in closest friendship groups when friends were of the same, opposite, or both sexes. (Author/DB)

Uses a sociometric analysis to explore the differential organization of boys' and girls' peer groups. Finds that boys structure their peer groups by creating a large central cluster composed of smaller integrated clusters, whereas girls form small clusters unrelated to one another. Nevertheless, girls are aware of and sensitive to the status of…

The qualities of sibling relationships and friendships of socially accepted and rejected children were compared in a study involving 392 male and 384 female second and third graders. The students completed a series of assessments and their teachers filled out rating scales. Results indicated that sibling status was associated with friendship…

This book describes how talk is used to build social organization within face-to-face interaction among a group of urban black children, an analysis providing the opportunity to study language, culture, and social organization from an integrated perspective. Children from a southwest Philadelphia neighborhood were tape-recorded during peer-group…

This study is an attempt to apply ethological tools of observation and analysis to the social behavior of 25 communally-reared children, ages 6 months to 4 years. The focus of this analysis is aggression and dominance relations. Findings indicate that: (1) agonistic behavior reveals stable and linear dominance hierarchies for children from 6…

Describes a study of fifth- and sixth-grade students that investigated the patterns of peer interaction among students working cooperatively in small groups on a computer-based problem-solving task and the effects of gender and group composition on peer interaction. Suggestions for future research are included. (Contains 86 references.) (LRW)

This research investigated the relationship between ego development and social network structure in grades 9 through 12 in a private school. Students filled out a sentence completion test for ego development and named friends with whom they spent the most time in school on a sociometric questionnaire. Popularity, mutuality in dyads, and choices…

This paper investigates the formation and evolution of friendship cliques among preadolescent youth in elementary and junior high grades 4 through 8. Two sets of data were collected: the first set consisted of cross sectional data from 51 classes (grades 5 through 8); the second set contained sociometric data collected from 11 classes (grades 4…