PREDICTING CHILDRENS FRIENDSHIP STATUS FROM THEIR DYADIC INTERACTION IN STRUCTURED SITUATIONS OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT

Dyads of 8-year-old friends identified by sociometric friendship nomin ations were followed through the end of the school year to determine i f they remained friends. These dyads as well as a control group of non friends were observed while participating in two structured tasks desi gned to simulate real life social situations of potential conflict. Wh en negotiating the sharing of an object, friends made more proposals t han nonfriends, spent more time negotiating, and compromised more in m aking their counterproposals. Compared with dyads in which the friends hip did not continue through the end of the school year, dyads of cont inuing friends exhibited greater sensitivity in their negotiations. Du ring a fast-Faced, competitive game, friends engaged in more competiti ve behavior and followed the rules more closely than did nonfriends. H owever, behavior in this game was unrelated to the continuation of fri endship.