"Birds of a Feather...": Behavioral Concordances and Preferential Personal Attraction in Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which preferential personal attraction was associated with behavioral similarity among newly acquainted children. Participants included 69 focal children, selected from a sample of 236 7-year-old children who met, for the first time, in same-sex quartets (n = 59) for a free-play session. Within each of these quartets, a "discriminating child" was identified; this child expressed a clear preference for one of his or her playmates over one other of her or his quartet playmates. Preference was determined sociometrically after the children became acquainted during free play. The results indicated that "discriminating" children were more behaviorally similar to preferred playmates than to nonpreferred playmates both in terms of cognitive play style and social participation. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the relation to the acquaintanceship process.

Socio-demographic characteristics and sexual health related attitudes and practices of men having sex with men in central and southern Malawi

“…This study though, being cross sectional in design and not a probability sample, we can neither ascribe causation to any of the factors identified or confirm that the frequencies and proportions of the various attributes studied are representative of the general MSM population in Malawi. Furthermore, because of the snowballing nature of participant recruitment, it is likely that respondents recruited potential respondents who were similar to themselves or within their own sexual networks (Rubin et al, 1994). Study participants also self-reported in response to the questions asked.…”

Early childhood anxious solitude and subsequent peer relationships: Maternal and cognitive moderators

“…Anxious solitary children may have friends with similar behavioral tendencies. Indeed, evidence indicates that children tend to become friends with peers with whom they share behavioral characteristics (homophily) (Farver, 1996;Haselager, Hartup, van Lieshout, & Riksen-Walraven, 1998;Hogue & Steinberg, 1995;Rubin, Lynch, Coplan, Rose-Krasnor, & Booth, 1994). Although this effect has most often been demonstrated for conconcordance in aggressive behavior (Farver, 1996;Hanish, Martin, Fabes, Leonard, & Herzog, 2005), Rubin and colleagues have demonstrated that children develop preferences for interacting with playmates who resemble themselves with respect to rate of solitary behavior ; see also French, Jansen, Riansari, & Setiono, 2003;Haselager et al, 1998).…”

Similarity predicts liking in 3-year-old children

“…doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2009.12.002 more opinions a child shares with another child, the more he or she will expect to like the other child. In addition, similarity in behavior has also been found to correlate with friendship during middle childhood (Haselager, Hartup, van Lieshout, & Riksen-Walraven, 1998) and even to predict attraction to peers in young school-age children (Rubin, Lynch, Coplan, Rose-Krasnor, & Booth, 1994). For example, 7-year-old children report more initial attraction to peers whose preferences (e.g., for activities or foods) are similar to their own (Reaves & Roberts, 1983).…”