Links between Social Network Closure and Child Well-Being: The Organizing Role of Friendship Context

• Published in: Developmental psychology Vol. 42; no. 6; pp. 1057 - 1068
• Main Authors: Fletcher, Anne C, Hunter, Andrea G, Eanes, Angella Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01.11.2006
• Subjects: Child; Children; Cluster Analysis; Correlation; Educational Status; Ethnic Groups - psychology; Ethnicity; Female; Friends; Friendship; Gender Identity; Grade 3; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Interviews; Logistic Models; Male; Mothers; Peer Relationship; Personality Development; Questionnaires; Residence Characteristics; Retrospective Studies; Social Identification; Social Networks; Social Support; Sociometric Techniques; Surveys and Questionnaires; Well Being
• ISSN: 0012-1649
• DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.6.1057

Third grade children (N = 404) and their mothers completed questionnaires and participated in interviews designed to identify children's friendships across multiple contexts, determine levels of social network closure for these friendships, and assess child well-being. Cluster analyses revealed distinct patterns in the contexts in which children's friendships were maintained. Closure was highest for children whose friendship clusters heavily represented relatives as friends and lowest when friends were from schools and the broader community. Intermediate levels of closure were observed for the clusters of neighborhood friends and friends from church and school. Both friendship cluster and, to some extent, ethnicity moderated associations between closure and indicators of well-being.