Hanging Out: Features of Urban Children's Peer Social Networks

This paper explores associations between two key demographic characteristics (i.e., sex and grade) and the grade-level peer network features (i.e., size, density, and demographic homophily) of 144 third through eighth grade students, ages 8 to 15, in an urban, diverse elementary school in the United States. Student-reported network data and demographic data were collected in Spring 2006. Results offer only partial support for two cultures theory where sex differences in network size attenuate with grade level. Findings also highlight developmental trends including a curvilinear effect of grade on network density as well as grade-level increases in cross-sex and same-race relationships. The paper concludes with a discussion of the importance of opportunity structures for, and the joint consideration of sex and developmental influences on, children's peer social networks.