Context and closure in children’s friendships: Prevalence and demographic variation

Abstract

Third-grade children (N = 404) and their mothers completed questionnaires and participated in interviews designed to identify children’s friendships across the multiple contexts of their lives and to determine the strength of parent-to-parent relationships for these friendships (social network closure). Hierarchical linear modeling procedures were used to evaluate links between friendship context and strength of closure relationships. Closure relationships were stronger when friendships were maintained within the contexts of neighborhood, church, extracurricular activities, relatives-as-friends, and family friends, and when friendships were maintained across multiple social contexts. Lower socioeconomic status mothers were particularly likely to report higher levels of closure within the contexts of neighborhood and relatives-as-friends.