SOCIAL-ORGANIZATION IN PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS - SOCIAL SETS AS SOCIAL UNITS

The purpose of this study was to examine age-related changes in presch oolers' affiliative groups. In this study, the peer group rather than the individual child was treated as the unit of analysis. Forty-seven 3-year-olds in four classes and 50 4-year-olds in four other classes w ere observed during free play. Observers recorded the person with whom each child interacted. McQuitty's (1957) cluster analysis was perform ed on the children's interaction scores to derive the affiliative grou ps in each classroom, which were called social sets. Social sets depic t the peer interactive networks within each classroom. The social sets of 4-year-olds were both larger and higher in density than the social sets of the 3-year-olds. The findings are consistent with expectation s that older preschoolers are better able to maintain several peer rel ationships simultaneously than are younger preschoolers. We discussed ways in which identification of social sets helps to understand the dy namics of individuals, relationships and groups.