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Similarity as the Basis for Children's Friendships: The Roles of Sociometric Status, Aggressive and Withdrawn Behavior, Academic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, uncuva{at}unc.edu

Melissa E. DeRosier

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Charlotte P. Patterson

University of Virginia

The purpose of the present study was to examine similarity in demographic, behavioral, academic and social attributes as descriptors and predictors of children's friendships. The characteristics of all possible pairs of unique classroom dyads (N = 4725) were used to predict reciprocated school, home and best friendship choices among 554 third (M = 9.38 years old) and fourth (M = 10.47 years old) graders. Peer reports of aggressive and withdrawn behavior and sociometric status, teacher reports of poverty, and archival reports of sex, race and academic achievement were obtained. The main finding was that as similarity increased, the likelihood of being friends also increased. Specifically, patterns of gender, race, poverty, aggression, withdrawn behavior, achievement and sociometric status between dyad members were descriptive and predictive of children's friendships.

Key Words: aggression • children's friendships • sociometric status

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Vol. 12, No. 3, 439-452 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/0265407595123007


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