Children in the second, fifth, and eighth grades rated the importance and extent of companionship and intimate disclosure experiences in social life in general and in each of eight types of relationships. (PCB)

This research paper explores the role of schooling in the formation of students' gender identities with particular attention to the social construction of masculinity. Understanding the formation of male identity is important in thinking about the roles of teachers and classrooms. Six pre-service teachers, three male and three female, were…

Relationship dissolution is generally examined within the context of romantic involvement but rarely from the standpoint of friendship. To examine patterns of friendship dissolution in young adults, retrospective accounts of recently terminated or deteriorated same-sex friendships and changes in friendship networks over the last 5 years were…

Observed play of 52 toddlers with a set of socially stereotyped masculine, feminine, and neutral toys in a day care setting over 14 months to (1) determine the age at which toddlers consistently exhibit sex-stereotyped toy choices in a natural setting and (2) investigate relation of parents' expectations and the children's own knowledge of gender…

General and specific issues of the risk and resilience framework in the social development of children with learning disabilities include: (1) integrating current research with prior related studies; (2) measurement problems; (3) more differentiation regarding gender and severity of learning disabilities; (4) potential risk and protective factors;…

Investigated the extent of children's loneliness, their perceived ease in making friends, their estimated social competence as a function of grade and sex, and their preferences concerning eight childhood activities. A loneliness scale and a sociometric peer nomination form were administered to 364 students in grades two, four, and six. (Author/BN)

Finds a significant relationship between characteristics of mothers' social networks and those of their children in a sample of 72 Swedish mothers and children. Nature and strength of relationships varied with mothers' marital status and children's gender. Networks of married mothers and daughters were most similar; networks of single mothers and…

Systematic observations of affiliative interaction in 15 stable peer groups were conducted across three years in an urban day care center. Groups contained 193 French-speaking children ranging in age from one to six years. (Author/RH)

Observes parents' socialization practices in 24 homes of families with first-born infants at 11, 14, and 17 months of age. Four kinds of socializing practices were observed and compared by parents' sex, infants' age, and infants' sex. (HOD)

This longitudinal study followed the social development of 239 students (including 10 students with learning disabilities) from kindergarten through fifth grade. Repeated measurements of peer acceptance, reciprocal friendship, self-concept, and social skills found a substantial amount of instability in social competence components for the students…

Previous research on friendship selection has failed to focus on how the selection process changes with age or in differently organized environments. This review of the literature takes a life-course perspective on the selection of friends, charting research results on three aspects of the selection process: (1) the number of friends and their…

Explores the underlying knowledge that children have about the relationship between the structure of requests and the relative status of speakers and listeners. Shows that the three age groups (preschoolers, 5-year-olds, and 10-year-olds) could systematically differentiate the requests by means of syntactic directness or semantics. (HOD)

Because of widespread acceptance of Kohlberg's theory of moral development other aspects of moral thinking and behavior linked with the feminine voice have not received attention. Four areas of Kohlberg's theory relevant to the gender issue are critiqued, and work by Carol Gilligan, suggesting alternative theories for thinking and behavior, is…

Part of a 10-year project that will follow five waves of educationally advantaged children from preschool through the fourth grade, this study examined the immediate effects of attending preschool on social competence. Once in the year prior to kindergarten entry and again near the conclusion of kindergarten, trained testers completed the…

Used newly developed codes for parenting behavior during the Great Depression reported in the Oakland Growth Study. Results indicated that economic hardship adversely influenced the psychosocial well-being of adolescent girls, but not boys, by increasing the rejecting behavior of fathers. This effect was particularly strong for unattractive girls.…