Identifying Childrens Peer Social Networks in School Classrooms: Links Between Peer Reports and Observed Interactions Scott D. Gest, Pennsylvania State University, Thomas W. Farmer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Beverley D. Cairns, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Hongling Xie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Abstract
Links between peer reports of social cluster membership and observed classroom interactions were examined in a sample of 72 children in 4th grade and 7th grade. All participating children in each classroom identified as many social clusters in the class- room as they could recall. Using the social-cognitive map (SCM) procedure, these individual reports were aggregated to summarize the number of times a given child was nominated as being in the same social cluster as each of his or her classmates (i.e., a co-nomination profile) and to identify the classmates in each childs social cluster. Extensive classroom observations allowed for a parallel summary of the number of times a given child was observed to interact with each of his or her class- mates (i.e., an interaction profile). Results indicated that correlations between co- nomination profiles and interaction profiles were positive and statistically reliable. Children were observed to interact with members of their SCM-identified social cluster at a rate four times higher than with other same-sex classmates. These effects did not vary reliably by grade, sex or aggressive risk status.
Keywords: peers; social networks; behavior observa
