The major focus of this research is the examination of the relationships among social network variables and personality variables across time in male and female adolescents. Although a number of researchers have concluded that social ties are needed to develop positive social skills and that reciprocal and stable relationships promote both mental health and personal development, the causal direction of these effects has not been examined. In this short term longitudinal study, personality variables, relationship quality with selected network members, and network size were measured both early (time 1) and late (time 2) in the school year. Predictors of adolescent's friendships and personality varied by gender among the boys and girls in the study. The set of time 1 variables predicted time 2 self-esteem and positive quality more strongly for boys than for girls. In contrast, time 1 variables tended to more strongly predict time 2 kin size for girls than for boys.
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