Friendships and Social Networks in Childhood and Adolescence: Fluidity, Reliability, and Interrelations

• Published in: Child development Vol. 66; no. 5; pp. 1330 - 1345
• Main Authors: Cairns, Robert B., Leung, Man-Chi, Buchanan, Lisa, Cairns, Beverley D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.1995; University of Chicago Press; Blackwell; University of Chicago Press for the Society for Research in Child Development, etc
• Subjects: Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Childhood; Children; Developmental psychology; Elementary Education; Elementary School Students; Evaluation Criteria; Female; Friendship; Friendships; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender Identity; Group Dynamics; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Interpersonal Relationship; Male; Middle school students; Peer groups; Peer Relations; Peer Relationship; Personality Development; Psychology, Adolescent; Psychology, Child; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; School age children; Social Environment; Social groups; Social interaction; Social networking; Social Networks; Social research; Social Support; Sociometric Techniques; Stability; Stability (Social Relationships); Human; School age; Peer relation; Stability; Fluidity; Social group; Social interaction; Adolescent; Social network; Social belonging; Child
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00938.x

Social networks and friendships were tracked over a 3-week period for 132 students enrolled in fourth- and seventh-grade classrooms. Individual interviews were employed to collect data on friendships. Social group membership was determined by the composite social-cognitive map (SCM) procedure and by self-reports. Considerable overlap was found among the methods for establishing relational patterns (i. e., friendships, self-reported groups, composite social-cognitive maps). When loose criteria for stability were employed, high stability was found in friendships (p = .56-.75) and social group membership (p = .90) over a 3-week period. But when stringent criteria were employed, only modest social relationship stability was observed in both methods, suggesting that there is much greater fluidity in peer bonds than has been generally recognized. The relationship between friendship and social network measures, the distinctive information yielded by social networks, and gender and age differences in group structure, fluidity, and friendships are discussed.