TY - JOUR
T1 - A sociometric approach to understanding characteristics of same-and other-gender friendships in young children
AU - Chow, Jason C.
AU - Broda, Michael D.
AU - Granger, Kristen
AU - Washington-Nortey, Melissa
AU - Sayers, Robin
AU - Dunn, Danielle
N1 - Funding Information:
Preparation of this article was supported, in part, by grants from the Institute of Education Science and the American Psychological Association (R324B200039; APA Division 15 Early Career Research Grant).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - The purpose of this study is to understand the extent to which child gender and language skill matching is associated with kindergarten students’ friendship selection. The study sample includes data from 987 friendship ties formed among 416 children from 21 kindergarten classrooms in four elementary schools in a large district, and we used hierarchical latent space models to estimate the relations between language match and friendship formation. Results indicate that friendship ties were balanced in terms of language matching, the most common pairing was same gender, same language status, and the least common pairing was same gender, differing language status. Similarity of language skill was a positive predictor of both same-gender and other-gender friendship ties. We discuss the implications and limitations of this study and propose future directions for research.
AB - The purpose of this study is to understand the extent to which child gender and language skill matching is associated with kindergarten students’ friendship selection. The study sample includes data from 987 friendship ties formed among 416 children from 21 kindergarten classrooms in four elementary schools in a large district, and we used hierarchical latent space models to estimate the relations between language match and friendship formation. Results indicate that friendship ties were balanced in terms of language matching, the most common pairing was same gender, same language status, and the least common pairing was same gender, differing language status. Similarity of language skill was a positive predictor of both same-gender and other-gender friendship ties. We discuss the implications and limitations of this study and propose future directions for research.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141484872&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.09.009
DO - doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.09.009
M3 - Article
SN - 0885-2006
VL - 62
SP - 385
EP - 393
JO - EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH QUARTERLY
JF - EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH QUARTERLY
ER -