Some Developmental Implications of Structural Aspects of Preschoolers' Relations with Classmates

To gain insight into children's peer relations and their developmental significance, it is important to know not only how many relations children have but also to consider the structure of these relations. To demonstrate this, we used a multiple-study design in which we applied social network analyses to sociometric ratings and nominations from 1,082 4- to 5-year-old children in 83 school classes. Results showed that isolation in the classroom was more strongly associated with the choices that were given than those that were received. Gender plus the negative behavioral characteristics, aggressiveness and rejection, were the most important cues for social clustering. The structure of positive choices reflected the formation of friendship networks, whereas negative choices tended to be given directly to individual “problem” children. Finally, structure indices tapped aspects of children's relations that were not reflected in the traditional two-dimensional classification system and provided additional explanatory power for predicting developmental outcomes.