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Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
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Social Organization in Preschool Classrooms: Social Sets as Social Units

Jo Ellen Vespo

Utica College of Syracuse University, jevespo{at}mailbox.syr.edu

Kathryn A. Kerns

Kent State University

Elizabeth M. O'Connor

State University of New York at Stony Brook

The purpose of this study was to examine age-related changes in preschoolers' affiliative groups. In this study, the peer group rather than the individual child was treated as the unit of analysis. Forty-seven 3-year-olds in four classes and 50 4-year-olds in four other classes were observed during free play. Observers recorded the person with whom each child interacted. McQuitty's (1957) cluster analysis was performed on the children's interaction scores to derive the affiliative groups in each classroom, which were called social sets. Social sets depict the peer interactive networks within each classroom. The social sets of 4-year-olds were both larger and higher in density than the social sets of the 3-year-olds. The findings are consistent with expectations that older preschoolers are better able to maintain several peer relationships simultaneously than are younger preschoolers. We discussed ways in which identification of social sets helps to understand the dynamics of individuals, relationships and groups.

Key Words: networks • peers • preschoolers

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Vol. 13, No. 1, 41-55 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/0265407596131003
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