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The influence of age, sex and coeducation on gender cleavage and friendship quality during childhood and adolescence

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posted on 2023-05-26, 19:24 authored by Leeson, S
The review aims to outline the theoretical background, methodological issues and the grade-related and sex differences in two main research areas of children's friendship, namely friendship choice and friendship quality. Gender cleavage is the propensity of children to choose, and rate more positively friends of the same-gender. Theoretical accounts of the establishment and maintenance of gender cleavage have focused largely on individual-level factors as the driving force behind this phenomenon and to a lesser extent, group processes. This review argues that, at a broader level, it is possible that environmental factors such as the gender composition of the school might influence gender cleavage. Friendship quality research investigates the thoughts, feelings and concepts children and adolescents have about their friends. Research within this area has concentrated on same-gender friendships and little research has been carried out in relation to children's and adolescent's perceptions of their opposite-gender peers compared to their same-gender peers. Friendship qualities in opposite-gender peers have also not been widely or systematically examined across sex or age. As in the gender cleavage research it is important to investigate how ideas of friendship quality may be related to oppositegender and same-gender friendship choices in gendered school environments. The review concludes that the two major areas of friendship research namely friendship choice and quality have developed separately and that there may be important connections between children's expectations and their actual friendship choices.

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Copyright 2001 the Author - The University is continuing to endeavour to trace the copyright owner(s) and in the meantime this item has been reproduced here in good faith. We would be pleased to hear from the copyright owner(s). Thesis (M.Psych.)--University of Tasmania, 2001. Includes bibliographical references

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