The role of full- and half-day preschool attendance in the formation of children's social networks

Abstract

In the United States, the duration of children's preschool attendance differs, with some children attending full-day preschool and some children attending half-day preschool. This difference provides uneven daily exposure to peers that may have implications for childhood social outcomes, including the formation of social networks over time. In this study, we examined the role of full- and half-day preschool attendance in children's social network formation. Specifically, using stochastic actor-oriented modeling (i.e., a type of longitudinal social network analysis appropriate for measuring relationship formation over time), we analyzed longitudinal social network data from an intensive observational study of 25 three-year-old and 28 four-year-old students’ social play relationships in 2 preschool classrooms over the course of an entire school year. Our results provide no evidence that attending full-day preschool has a positive effect on the formation of social play relationships in early childhood. Instead, 3-year-old children who attended full-day preschool were significantly less likely than their half-day peers to form social play relationships over time. We discuss potential developmental and contextual factors that might explain this finding as well as future directions for research and practice.