Examination of 390 Black American adolescents demonstrates that males and females experience very different structured forms of social support. Females report more frequent contact with network members, who were both male and female, slightly older, and met in private settings. Males report larger groups of intimate friends, who are overwhelmingly…

The classroom behavior of 92 black and white sixth graders was observed in a desegregated urban school. Observations were made once a week during a full semester. The sex and race of each student observed and of his or her interactants were noted. Observers also coded characteristics of observed students' interactive behaviors: the tone (positive,…

Interviews conducted with 36 children demonstrate that boys and girls speak about the goals and concerns of children differently. Girls were more likely than boys to describe children who do the following: (1) seek practical help; (2) are too overcome with emotion to confide in others; and (3) want to be alone to resolve their problems.…

Examines the social networks of 85 young children as they made the transition from a home-centered to a school-centered existence. As children reached school age, they had increased contact with peers and decreased contact with kin. Children as young as three showed more same-sex than opposite-sex peer contact. (Author/BJV)

This paper reviews published observational research that has addressed the impact of race and sex on student peer interactions and describes two studies that focused on the classroom behaviors of black and white sixth grade boys and girls. The studies were conducted in an urban middle school in the northeastern United States, a school that had…

Social networks are the linkages between social units, both persons and groups, with which an individual has contact. The articles in this special issue address the different types of people and their functions that make up the social networks of females and males from infancy into childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. (BJV)