SOCIOMETRIC STATUS OF GYPSY CHILDREN IN ETHNICALLY MIXED CLASSES

Children in ethnically mixed classes of elementary and special schools (N = 2128, 14% of them Gypsies) were examined by peer nomination meth od. Additional data were obtained from teachers. In elementary schools , the hypothesized tendency not to accept and to reject children of th e other ethnos was confined. In special schools, interethnic relations hips were found much better. Both Gypsies and non-Gypsies also preferr ed same-sex children of their own as well as of the other ethnos.