CROSS-SEX FRIENDSHIP IN CHILDREN:
GENDER PATTERNS AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
JEFFREY
J.
COHEN
Ardsley Public
Schools,
Ardsley. New
York
ADMA
D’HEURLE
VIVECA WIDMARK-PETERSSON
Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, New
York
Nursing College,
Llppsala,
Sweden
An understanding of cross-sex friendship patterns can highlight male-female interac-
tions
in
ways not revealed through investigations of same-sex friendships. Therefore,
children’s cross-sex friendship choices in two cultures were studied to explore culture-
and gender-related biases in the socialization
of
sex roles. Fifth graders in America
and Sweden responded to two sociometric questions about help with schoolwork and
secret-sharing. Differences across gender and culture lines provided support for the ex-
istence of biases in gender-role training that may differ among cultures. Questions
were raised regarding the role of social agents in the development
of
social cognitions,
the amenability to change of traditional sex-typed behaviors, and the differences
among cultures that might influence social-cognitive development. The fact that some
children make cross-sex choices suggests that socialization practices do not influence
all children uniformly. These differences bear further study.
The nature and characteristics of children’s friendships have been studied from a
variety of perspectives. In the 40s and 50s, the study of the social interactions of elemen-
tary school students was greatly enhanced by the development and refinement of
sociometric techniques (Gronlund, 1959; Jennings, 1948; Lindzey
&
Borgatta, 1954;
Proctor
&
Loomis, 1951; Taiguri, 1952). Later, the social learning theorists, notably
Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1957), and Bandura (1969), stressed the impact of en-
vironmental influences on the development of the child’s social knowledge and behavior.
However, during the last two decades, the resurgence
of
Piagetian cognitive theory, and
the work of Kohlberg
on
moral development (1976), has revived interest in the study of
children as active interpreters of their world (Damon, 1977). During the 1970s, this ex-
ploration shifted from the study of nonsocial (impersonal) cognition to issues concerning
cognition of the social environment.
As
a result, children’s social cognition, their concep-
tions, knowledge, and understanding of the interpersonal domain, has emerged as a ma-
jor
area of research (Berndt, 1979a,b; Duck, 1973; Duck
&
Spencer, 1972; Hill
&
Palm-
quist, 1978; Selman
&
Byrne, 1974; Turiel, 1977; Youniss, 1975). The development
of
children’s cognitive capacities has come to be seen as a basic factor determining the
makeup and changing features of their friendships. Such functions as the child’s in-
creased differentiation and organizaiton of cognitive constructs (Emmerich, Goldman
&
Shore, 1971; Livesley
&
Bromley, 1973; Youniss, 1975), and the increased capacity for
social perspective- and role-taking (Selman, 1971; Selman
&
Byrne, 1974) have been im-
plicated
in
the development of increased social understanding. Evidence for a close rela-
tion between nonsocial determinants and social cognition is stressed
in
the work of
Berndt (1979a), Bigelow (1977), Bigelow and La Gaipa (1975), and Reisman and Shorr
(1978), who found support for a sequential, stage-like shift with age in children’s
friendship expectations.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Jeffrey J. Cohen,
2990
Saddle Ridge Drive, Yorktown Heights,
NY
10598.
523