This paper explores associations between two demographic characteristics (i.e., sex and grade level) and the peer network features (i.e., size, density, and demographic homophily) of 144 third through eighth grade students (ages 8—15) in an urban, US elementary school with considerable diversity in race and socioeconomic status. The results offer only partial support for the two cultures theory, as sex differences in network size attenuated with increasing grade levels. The findings also highlight developmental trends, including a curvilinear effect of grade on network density and grade-level increases in cross-sex and same-race relationships. Finally, the paper includes a discussion of the importance of opportunity structures for, and the joint consideration of sex and developmental influences on, children’s peer social networks.
Adler, P.A., & Adler, P. ( 1995). Dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in preadolescent cliques. Social Psychology Quarterly, 58, 145-162.
2.
Bagwell, C.L., Coie, J.D., Terry, R.A., & Lochman, J.A. ( 2000). Peer clique participation and social status in preadolescence . Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 46, 280-305.
3.
Benenson, J.F. ( 1990). Gender differences in social networks. Journal of Early Adolescence, 10, 472-495.
4.
Bjorkqvist, K., Lagerspetz, K.M.J., & Kaukiainen, A. (1992). Do girls manipulate and boys fight? Developmental trends in regard to direct and indirect aggression . Aggressive Behavior, 18, 117-127.
5.
Borgatti, S., Everett, M., & Freeman, L. ( 2002). UCINET (Version 6). [Computer software]. Retrieved December 1, 2005, from http://www.analytictech.com/ucinet.htm
6.
Brown, B.B., Eicher, S.A., & Petrie, S. ( 1986). The importance of peer group (‘‘crowd’’) affiliation in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 9, 73-96.
7.
Cairns, R.B., & Cairns, B.D. ( 1994). Lifelines and risks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8.
Cairns, R.B., Leung, M.C., Buchanan, L., & Cairns, B.D. ( 1995). Friendships and social networks in childhood and adolescence: Fluidity, reliability, and intercorrelations. Child Development , 66, 1330-1345.
9.
Crockett, L., Losoff, M., & Peterson, A. ( 1984). Perceptions of the peer group and friendship in early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 4, 155-181.
10.
Eder, D. ( 1985). The cycle of popularity: Interpersonal relations among female adolescents. Sociology of Education, 58, 154-165.
11.
Eder, D., & Hallinan, M.T. (1978). Sex differences in children’s friendships. American Sociological Review, 43, 237-250.
12.
Ennett, S.T., & Bauman, K.E. ( 1993). Peer group structure and adolescent cigarette smoking: A social network analysis. Journal of Health and Social Behavior , 3, 226-236.
13.
Ennett, S.T., & Bauman, K.E. ( 1994). The contribution of influence and selection to adolescent peer group homogeneity: The case of adolescent cigarette smoking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 653-663.
14.
Ennett, S.T., & Bauman, K.E. ( 1996). Adolescent social networks: School, demographic, and longitudinal considerations. Journal of Adolescent Research , 11, 194-215.
15.
Freeman, L.C. ( 1978). Segregation in social networks. Sociological Methods and Research, 6, 411-429.
16.
Freeman, L.C. ( 1978/1979). Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification. Social Networks, 1, 215-239.
17.
George, T.P., & Hartmann, D.P. (1996). Friendship networks of unpopular, average, and popular children. Child Development , 67, 2301-2316.
18.
Gest, S.D., Davidson, A.J., Rulison, K.L., Moody, J., & Welsh, J.A. ( 2007). Features of groups and status hierarchies in girls’ and boys’ early adolescent peer networks. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 118, 43-60.
19.
Gest, S.D., Farmer, T.W., Cairns, B.D., & Xie, H. ( 2003). Identifying children’s peer social networks in school classrooms: Links between peer reports and observed interactions. Social Development, 12, 513-529.
20.
Goodwin, M.H. ( 2002). Exclusion in girls’ peer groups: Ethnographic analysis of language practices on the playground. Human Development , 45, 392-415.
21.
Graham, J.A., & Cohen, R. ( 1997). Race and sex as factors in children’s sociometric ratings and friendship choices. Social Development, 6, 355-372.
22.
Graham, J.A., Cohen, R., Zbikowski, S.M., & Secrist, M. ( 1998). A longitudinal investigation of race and sex as factors in children’s classroom friendship choices. Child Study Journal, 28, 245-266.
23.
Hallinan, M.T. ( 1979). Structural effects on children’s friendships and cliques. Social Psychology Quarterly, 42, 43-54.
24.
Hallinan, M.T., & Smith, S.S. ( 1989). Classroom characteristics and student friendship cliques . Social Forces, 67, 898-919.
25.
Hanneman, R.A., & Riddle, M. ( 2005). Introduction to social network methods. Retrieved December 1, 2005, from http://faculty.ucr.edu/~hanneman/nettext/
26.
Hayden-Thomson, L., Rubin, K.H., & Hymel, S. ( 1987). Sex preferences in sociometric choices. Developmental Psychology, 23(4), 558-562.
27.
Illinois State School Report Card. (2006). Retrieved July 2, 2008 from http://research.cps.k12.il.us
28.
Kiesner, J., Poulin, F., & Nicotra, E. ( 2003). Peer relations across contexts: Individual-network homophily and network inclusion in and after school. Child Development , 74, 1328-1343.
29.
D. M., Parker, J.G., & Hoffman, L.W. ( 1996). Behavioral, affective, and social correlates of involvement in cross-sex friendship in elementary school. Child Development , 67, 2269-2286.
30.
Krackhardt, D. ( 1987). Cognitive social structures. Social Networks , 9, 109-134.
31.
Krackhardt, D. ( 1990). Assessing the political landscape: Structure, cognition, and power in organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly , 35, 342-369.
32.
Kupersmidt, J.B., DeRosier, M.E., & Patterson, C.P. (1995). Similarity as the basis for children’s friendships: The roles of sociometric status, aggressive and withdrawn behavior, academic achievement, and demographic characteristics . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 12, 439-452.
33.
Lagerspetz, K.M.J., Bjorkqvist, K., & Peltonen, T. ( 1988). Is indirect aggression typical of females? Gender differences in aggressiveness in 11 to 12 year old children. Aggressive Behavior, 14, 403-414.
34.
Landau, S.F., Bjorkqvist, K., Lagerspetz, K.M.J., Osterman, K., & Gideon, L. ( 2002). The effect of religiosity and ethnic origin on direct and indirect aggression among males and females: Some Israeli findings. Aggressive Behavior, 28, 281-298.
35.
Lee, L., Howes, C., & Chamberlain, B. (2007). Ethnic heterogeneity of social networks and cross-ethnic friendships of elementary school boys and girls. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 53, 325-246.
36.
Lever, J. ( 1978). Sex differences in the complexity of children’s play and games. American Sociological Review, 43, 471-483.
37.
Maccoby, E.E. ( 1990). Gender and relationships: A developmental account. American Psychologist, 45, 513-520.
38.
Maccoby, E.E. ( 1998). The two sexes: Growing up apart, coming together. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
39.
McPherson, M. ( 2004). A Blau space primer: Prolegomenon to an ecology of affiliation . Industrial and Corporate Change, 13, 263-280.
40.
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J.M. ( 2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415-444.
41.
Mosteller, F., & Youtz, C. ( 1961). Tables of the Freeman-Tukey transformations for the binomial and poisson distributions. Biometrika, 48, 433-440.
42.
Neal, J.W. ( 2008). ‘‘Kracking’’ the missing data problem: Applying Krackhardt’s cognitive social structures to school-based social networks. Sociology of Education, 81, 140-162.
43.
Neal, J.W. ( 2009). Network ties and mean lies: A relational approach to relational aggression. Journal of Community Psychology, 37, 737-753.
44.
Parker, J.G., & Seal, J. ( 1996). Forming, losing, renewing, and replacing friendships: Applying temporal parameters to the assessment of children’s friendship experiences. Child Development, 67, 2248-2268.
45.
Pellegrini, A.D. ( 1994). A longitudinal study of school peer networks and adjustment to middle school. Educational Psychology, 14, 403-413.
46.
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. ( 1969). The psychology of the child. New York : Basic Books.
47.
Putallaz, M., & Wasserman, A. ( 1989). Children’s naturalistic entry behavior and sociometric status: A developmental perspective. Developmental Psychology , 25, 297-305.
48.
Richards, W.D. ( 1998). NEGOPY 4.30 Manual and User’s Guide. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada: Simon Fraser University .
49.
Rose, A.J., & Rudolph, K.D. ( 2006). A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: Potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 98-131.
50.
Salmivalli, C., Huttunen, A., & Lagerspetz, K.M.J. (1997). Peer networks and bullying in schools. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 38, 305-312.
51.
Savin-Williams, R.C. ( 1979). Dominance hierarchies in groups of early adolescents . Child Development, 50, 923-935.
52.
Shrum, W., & Cheek, N.H. ( 1987). Social structure during the school years: Onset of the degrouping process. American Sociological Review, 52, 218-223.
53.
Shrum, W., Cheek, N.H., & Hunter, S.M. ( 1988). Friendship in school: Gender and race homophily. Sociology of Education, 61, 227-239.
54.
Sussman, S., Pokhrel, P., Ashmore, R.D., & Brown, B. ( 2007). Adolescent peer group identification and characteristics: A review of the literature. Addictive Behaviors, 32, 1602-1627.
55.
Tatum, B.D. ( 2003). ‘‘Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?’’: And other conversations about race. New York: Basic Books.
56.
Thorne, B. ( 1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in school. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
57.
Tiet, Q.Q., Wasserman, G.A., Loeber, R., McReynolds, S.L., & Miller, L.S. ( 2001). Developmental and sex differences in types of conduct problems. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 10, 181-197.
58.
Underwood, M.K. ( 2003). Social aggression among girls. New York: Guilford.
59.
Underwood, M.K. ( 2004). Gender and peer relations: Are the two cultures really all that different? In J. B. Kupersmidt & K. A. Dodge (Eds.), Children’s peer relations: From development to intervention: Decade of behavior (pp. 21-36). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
60.
Underwood, M.K. ( 2007). Do girls’ and boys’ friendships constitute different peer cultures, and what are the trade-offs for development? Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 53, 319-324.
61.
Urberg, K.A., Degirmencioglu, S.M., Tolson, J.M., & Halliday-Scher, K. (1995). The structure of adolescent peer networks. Developmental Psychology, 31, 540-547.
62.
Vespo, J.E., Kerns, K.A., & O’Connor, E.M. (1996). Organization in preschool classrooms: Social sets as social units. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 13, 41-55.
63.
Xie, H., Cairns, R.B., & Cairns, B.D. ( 1999). Social networks and configurations in inner-city schools: Aggression, popularity, and implications for students with EBD. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 7, 147-155.
