Abstract
Linear and curvilinear associations between experiences in the same- and other-sex peer groups and the protective functions of friendship with an other-sex peer for early adolescents without a same-sex friend were examined in a sample of 231 fifth, sixth, and seventh grade girls and boys. Findings indicate that (a) at the level of the individual, early adolescent girls and, to a much smaller extent, early adolescent boys show a preference for same-sex peers; (b) this unilateral difference in expansiveness accounts for differences in participation rates in same -and other-sex friendships; (c) children of both sexes who are either very popular or very unpopular are more likely than other children to have other-sex friends; and (d) among children without a same-sex friend, having an other-sex friend is linked to higher levels of perceived well-being for boys and lower levels of well-being for girls. Each of these results is discussed according to our understanding of how the same- and other-sex peer systems function as a system to affect development in early adolescence.
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Bukowski, W.M., Sippola, L.K. & Hoza, B. Same and Other: Interdependency Between Participation in Same- and Other-Sex Friendships. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 28, 439–459 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021664923911
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021664923911