Conflict and Friendship Relations in Middle Childhood: Behavior in a Closed-Field Situation

Disagreements between school-aged children were examined as a function of friendship status. 66 same-sex dyads were selected, including equal numbers of "best friends" and nonfriends, who were then observed while playing a board game (a closed-field situation). Conflicts occurred more frequently among friends than among nonfriends and lasted longer. Friends did not talk more during their conflicts than nonfriends, but assertions were used selectively according to friendship and sex: With friends, girls used assertions accompanied by rationales more frequently than boys whereas boys used assertions without rationales more frequently than girls. These sex differences were not evident during conflicts between nonfriends. Results are discussed in relation to the social constraints intrinsic to closed-field competitive conditions as these apply to friendship relations in middle childhood.     

Friendship Networks of Unpopular, Average, and Popular Children

Existence of friendship and friendship network characteristics were examined among children who differed in popularity status using a relatively unrestricted friendship nomination procedure. Fifth and sixth graders ( N = 227 ) completed a rating-scale sociometric to index popularity and provided information on up to 15 good friends. Results indicated that all children reported having at least one unilateral friend. Unpopular children were less likely than popular children to have at least one reciprocal friend, although the large majority (77%) did have a reciprocal friend. Results also indicated that unpopular children's unilateral friendship networks, in comparison to the networks of their more popular peers, contained a greater number of younger school-age friends and fewer same-age friends, more friends located outside of the school but within the same school district, and more unpopular and fewer popular school friends. Unpopular children's reciprocal friendship networks were significantly smaller, were more evenly distributed within and outside of the classroom, and contained fewer average and popular friends as well as friends of the opposite sex. Findings suggest advantages to using an unrestricted friendship nomination instrument and emphasize the need to consider both popularity and friendship when investigating children's peer relationships.     

Dyadic analyses of friendship in a sample of preschool-age children attending Head Start: correspondence between measures and implications for social competence

Friendships among a large sample of preschool-age children (N = 471) attending Head Start were assessed. Based on sociometric data, friendship dyads were identified as reciprocated (mutual choice) or nonreciprocated (unilateral choice). Dyads were further classified with respect to gender composition as either same- or mixed-gender dyads. Older children were more likely to participate in a reciprocated friendship than were younger children and reciprocated dyads were more likely to be same-gender than were nonreciprocated dyads. Analyses of interaction between dyad partners revealed that reciprocated friends interacted more frequently across all categories of interaction coded and looked at each other more frequently than did members of nonreciprocated dyads. For the positive interaction subscore, the friendship status effect was modified by a significant interaction with gender composition such that significant effects of friendship status were obtained only for same-gender dyads. Additional analyses indicated that the average social competence level was greater for reciprocated dyads than for nonreciprocated dyads. The findings suggest that reciprocated friendships are meaningful for preschool-age children and may serve as special socialization contexts in which the repertoire of behavior can be exercised and perhaps improved. They also highlight the salience of same-gender friendships in the preschool classroom.     

Commentary on Comparative Evaluation of Early Intervention Alternatives

Young children's preferences for conflict management strategies were assessed with hypothetical puppet interviews. A total of 48 children enrolled in a university nursery school were each presented 12 vignettes depicting common peer conflicts. Vignettes varied as a function of conflict issue (roles and possessions) and peer friendship status (friends and nonfriends). Three conflict resolution strategies were contrasted: negotiation, power assertion, and disengagement. The results indicated an overwhelming preference for negotiation. In contrast, power assertion was the least desirable means of resolving disputes. No differences emerged as a function of conflict issue or friendship status. Neither were there differences according to the age or sex of the subject. The findings indicate that young children evince a similar preference for resolving conflicts through negotiation and cooperation as has been reported in studies of older children and adolescents.     

Conflict Resolution Among Preschool Children: The Appeal of Negotiation in Hypothetical Disputes

Young children's preferences for conflict management strategies were assessed with hypothetical puppet interviews. A total of 48 children enrolled in a university nursery school were each presented 12 vignettes depicting common peer conflicts. Vignettes varied as a function of conflict issue (roles and possessions) and peer friendship status (friends and nonfriends). Three conflict resolution strategies were contrasted: negotiation, power assertion, and disengagement. The results indicated an overwhelming preference for negotiation. In contrast, power assertion was the least desirable means of resolving disputes. No differences emerged as a function of conflict issue or friendship status. Neither were there differences according to the age or sex of the subject. The findings indicate that young children evince a similar preference for resolving conflicts through negotiation and cooperation as has been reported in studies of older children and adolescents.     

Conflict and the friendship relations of young children

The purpose of this investigation was to compare conflicts occurring between young children and their friends to those occurring between nonfriends. 53 children with a median age of 4 years, 3 months were observed and interviewed to determine who were mutual friends, unilateral associates, or neutral associates. 146 conflicts were also observed. Conflicts between mutual friends, as compared to those occurring between neutral associates: (a) did not occur less frequently, differ in length, or differ in the situations that instigated them, but (b) were less intense, were resolved more frequently with disengagement, and more frequently resulted in equal or partially equal outcomes. Continued socialization was also more likely following conflicts between friends. Conflicts between unilateral associates resembled those between nonfriends, although postconflict interaction resembled that between mutual friends. Conflict resolution strategies favored by friends maximize the likelihood that their interaction and their relationships will continue.     

Relational Aggression and Friendship During Early Childhood: I Won't Be Your Friend!

Associations between relational aggression and mutual, dyadic friendships during early childhood were assessed in the context of a year-long, short-term longitudinal study. Children's mutual friendships were determined via sociometric ratings and their relationally aggressive behavior among peers was assessed via naturalistic, free play observations. Generally, children who were more relationally aggressive had more mutual friends, although this relation differed by gender and time of assessment. Future work should include measures of friendship quality and investigate the role of relational aggression within friendship dyads.     

Settling into school: The importance of early friendships for the development of children's social understanding and communicative competence

This paper reports an exploratory study of 37 children (aged 4–5 years) throughout their first term of formal schooling. Children in two different schools were included in the study. Four pairs of friends and four isolated children were targeted for in‐depth observation every week throughout the term. The behaviour and speech of these 12 children were coded systematically in various activities and settings to assess their level of social involvement and their adjustment to school. Sociometric interviews were carried out with all 37 children. These were used to examine the pattern of social relationships in the two classes and to investigate Children's understanding of concepts such as ‘friendship’. The target children also took part in a communication game with other children from their classes, matched in age and verbal ability, but who were not friends. It was predicted that children who started school in the company of a friend or friends would have better developed social and communicative skills than children who began school without the support of existing friendships. As predicted, children who had well established friendships on entry to school gave more sophisticated reasons as to why children liked and disliked each other. These children were also more effective communicators than the isolated children. The results suggest that friendship not only plays an important part in developing young Children's social competencies, but also that it influences children'sperformance on a range of classroom‐based learning activities, particularly those which involve mutual collaboration and co‐operation.     

School and Neighborhood Friendship Patterns of Blacks and Whites in Early Adolescence

This research examined the school and neighborhood friendships of 292 black and white children who attended an integrated junior high school. Most students reported having a close other-race school friend, but only 28% of the sample saw such a friend frequently outside of school. Reports of an interracial school friendship that extended to nonschool settings were significantly more common among black students than whites and among children who lived in integrated neighborhoods rather than segregated ones. Race differences in reported friendship behavior were also found on other friendship variables. Compared to whites, blacks reported more extensive neighborhood friendship networks but indicated that they talked to fewer friends during the school day. In addition, the study replicated prior findings that white girls report more peer social support than white boys but failed to find a gender difference in peer support among blacks. The discussion emphasizes the importance of the school/nonschool ecology and the need for further comparative study of white and black children's friendship patterns.     

Friendship and Task Management in Children's Peer Tutoring

The role of friendship in mediating children's learning is poorly understood, and conflicting claims exist about the manner in which friendship may influence both the process and outcome of learning. Evidence from studies on peer tutoring suggests that children acting as tutors have difficulty co‐ordinating the physical, informational and social demands of a tutoring task, due to their limited cognitive resources. Eight‐ to nine‐year‐old boys and girls were allocated to friend or non‐friend pairs in one‐to‐one tutoring dyads for the purposes of examining the impact of friendship on the process and outcome of tutoring. Although tutoring dyads of friends might be expected to focus their resources on informational components of the task, because their pre‐established relationship would minimise the burden of managing the social demands of the task, the opposite was found. Child tutors who were friends allocated additional resources to the social management aspect of the task, including monitoring tutee progress, but allocated no additional resources to imparting information about the task necessary for improving learning. Far from reducing task demands upon the tutor, friendship appears to impose greater burdens on children's limited resources, consequential upon the need to re‐negotiate their new social relationship arising from unfamiliar and unequal roles into which tutoring has thrust them.     

Characterizing and comparing the friendships of anxious-solitary and unsociable preadolescents

Friendships matter for withdrawn youth because the consequences of peer isolation are severe. From a normative sample of 2,437 fifth graders (1,245 females; M age = 10.25), a subset (n = 1,364; 638 female) was classified into 3 groups (anxious-solitary, unsociable, comparison) and followed across a school year. Findings indicated that it was more common for unsociable than anxious-solitary children to have friends, be stably friended, and participate in multiple friendships. For withdrawn as well as nonwithdrawn children, peer rejection predicted friendlessness, but this relation was strongest for anxious-solitary children. The friends of unsociable youth were more accepted by peers than those of anxious-solitary youth. The premise that friendship inhibits peer victimization was substantiated for withdrawn as well as nonwithdrawn youth.     

Friendship and Popularity in Preschool Classrooms

The development of friendships and peer acceptance and their relation to children's emotional regulation and social-emotional behavior with others among a group of 3-5-year-old children was examined. Peer relationships and social-emotional skills were assessed early in the preschool year and peer relationships were assessed again late in the year. Preschool friendships were prevalent, moderately consistent across situations, and moderately stable over the course of the school year; peer acceptance also was moderately stable. Popularity of preschool children was related to their social behavior with peers both early and late in the school year but acceptance by the group was unrelated to children's emotion regulation. Number of mutual friendship choices was related to children's emotional regulation but not to social behaviors with peers late in the year. Acceptance by the peer group was related to number of mutual friends but there were some well-liked children who had no friends and disliked children who had friends. These results show the importance of popularity and early friendships in preschool classrooms. That is, these peer relationships are lasting and related to social and emotional development. Therefore, efforts to foster both group relations and mutual dyadic relationships should be included in preschool programming.     

The Company They Keep: Friendships and Their Developmental Significance

Considerable evidence tells us that "being liked" and "being disliked" are related to social competence, but evidence concerning friendships and their developmental significance is relatively weak. The argument is advanced that the developmental implications of these relationships cannot be specified without distinguishing between having friends, the identity of one's friends, and friendship quality . Most commonly, children are differentiated from one another in diagnosis and research only according to whether or not they have friends. The evidence shows that friends provide one another with cognitive and social scaffolding that differs from what nonfriends provide, and having friends supports good outcomes across normative transitions. But predicting developmental outcome also requires knowing about the behavioral characteristics and attitudes of children's friends as well as qualitative features of these relationships.     

Interpersonal dynamics within adolescent friendships: dyadic mutuality, deviant talk, and patterns of antisocial behavior

Interpersonal dynamics within friendships were observed in a sample of 120 (60 male, 60 female) ethnically diverse 16- and 17-year-old adolescents characterized as persistently antisocial, adolescent-onset, and normative. Dyadic mutuality and deviant talk were coded from videotaped friendship interactions. Persistently antisocial adolescents demonstrated lower levels of dyadic mutuality compared with adolescent-onset and normative adolescents. Persistently antisocial and adolescent-onset adolescents spent more time in deviant talk than did normative adolescents. Across groups, girls were rated as more mutual and coded less in deviant talk than boys. Furthermore, friendship dyads who engaged in high levels of deviant talk and were mutual in their interactions reported the highest rates of antisocial behavior.     

Holism, contextual variability, and the study of friendships in adolescent development

This study treated a key relationship in the developmental ecology of adolescence, friendships, as multidimensional and context specific. First, it examined 4 characteristics of friends (academic achievement, alcohol use, emotional distress, and extracurricular participation) as independent factors and as components in holistic friendship group profiles. Longitudinal analyses of 9,224 adolescents (ages 12-20) revealed that multiple characteristics of friends predicted adolescent behavioral problems, as did membership in the best adjusted group profile. Second, the study examined whether the associations between friendship factors and adolescent behavior varied as a function of the larger peer network and school context, finding that network centrality, school academic press, and intergenerational bonding in schools conditioned the role of friends' characteristics and group profiles in positive and negative ways.     

An observational study of social exclusion under varied conditions: gender and developmental differences

To investigate social exclusion, 146 dyads of close friends (N = 292, ages 10, 12, and 14) were observed as they played a board game with a same-gender confederate actor, trained to be a difficult play partner. Verbalizations and gestures were coded for verbal and nonverbal social exclusion, verbal aggression, and verbal assertion. The results indicated few developmental differences. For verbal responses in the presence of the actor, boys were more socially exclusive and verbally aggressive than were girls. Girls engaged in more nonverbal social exclusion in the presence of the actor than did boys. Girls' socially exclusive behaviors were unrelated to other negative behaviors and more strongly related between friends in the actor's absence.     

Group size regulates self-assertive versus self-deprecating responses to interpersonal competition

The current study examined the hypothesis that group size can influence whether children display self-assertive versus self-deprecating responses to interpersonal competition, especially under stress. Twenty same-sex play-groups (N = 120) of 9- to 10-year-old children played a competitive game in groups and in dyads. Stress was induced by causing some of the children to lose the game and watch as their opponents received psychological and material rewards. Results demonstrated that both the dynamics of the game and individual reactions to stress varied consistently as a function of the social context. Individuals displayed more assertive behaviors in groups than in dyads. In contrast, individuals exhibited more self-deprecating behaviors in dyads than in groups. Given that under naturalistic conditions males are more likely than are females to interact in groups and females are more likely than are males to interact in dyads, group size provides one possible mechanism for the development of sex differences in self-assertive versus self-deprecating behaviors.     

Antisocial Boys and Their Friends in Early Adolescence: Relationship Characteristics, Quality, and Interactional Process

This study examines the close friendships of early adolescent boys in relation to antisocial behavior. 186 13–14-year-old boys and their close friends were interviewed, assessed at school, and videotaped in a problem-solving task. Similarity was observed between the demographic characteristics and antisocial behavior of the boys and their close friends. There was a tendency for the close friends of antisocial boys to live within the same neighborhood block and to have met in unstructured, unsupervised activities. Direct observations of interactions with close friends revealed a reliable correlation between antisocial behavior, directives, and negative reciprocity. Positive interactions within the friendship were uncorrelated with antisocial behavior and relationship quality. Implications of these findings for clinical and developmental theory are discussed.     

Poofy Dresses and Big Guns: A post-structuralist analysis of gendered positioning through talk amongst friends

This article uses data collected from a class of eight to nine year olds to show the specific ways children are defining their gendered positions within the context of their same sex friendship groups. Children's subjectivities are described as both actively formed and also positioned within the surrounding (gendered) discourses. This article will show specific ways that structure and agency is played out through talk amongst friends. Importantly, analysis of the talk indicates that children are able to both align themselves as well as challenge dominant gendered discourses. The article argues that informal talk amongst friends is an important space for children to make sense of masculinities and femininities and to develop their identities, particularly in the context of school.