BEHAVIORAL, AFFECTIVE, AND SOCIAL CORRELATES OF INVOLVEMENT IN CROSS-SEX FRIENDSHIP IN ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL

The purpose of this study was to compare children with and without cro ss-sex friends on measures of social and cognitive competence, endorse ment of sex-role stereotypes, and family composition. Subjects were 72 3 third and fourth graders (377 girls, 346 bays) from diverse socioeco nomic backgrounds; 35% were African American. Measures included sociom etric assessments of peer acceptance, friendship, and behavioral reput ation, as well as self-reports of perceived self-competence and endors ement of sex-role stereotypes. In addition, teachers completed ratings of children's social and cognitive competence. In all, 92 children, a bout 14% of the sample, had one or more reciprocal opposite-sex friend s; for 21 of these children, their cross-sex friendships were their pr imary or only friendships. African American children were more likely than European American children to have opposite-sex friends. Involvem ent in cross-sex friendships was unrelated to the gender make-up of th e classroom, but was related to family structure. Comparisons of the c hildren who had primarily or only cross-sex friends to matched groups of children who had only same-sex friends and to children who had cros s-sex friends secondarily to same-sex ones revealed a number of differ ences between the groups in social competence and relationships with p eers. Overall, children with primarily opposite-sex friends had poorer social skills than other children with friends, although they were le ss stereotyped about sex roles than other children, and were better ad justed than children with no friends on most measures. In contrast, ch ildren involved in opposite-sex friendship secondarily to same-sex fri endship were as well adjusted socially as children with only same-sex friendships. These results suggest that children with cross-sex friend s differ among themselves, depending on the primacy of the cross-sex r elationship.