Abstract
This study explores gender differences in the social network characteristics of 390 Black American adolescents with a mean age of 14.8 Each adolescent completed the Social Network Record (SNR), which yields scores representing the organizational/demographic structure and the quality of emotional support in the network. It was hypothesized that males and females would construct different network profiles. Gender differences in both structural and support characteristics were found. Females indicated that they had more frequent contact with network members, that their network was on average slightly older, and that they tended to see network members in more private settings. Females also estimated that they know more people than males, although there were no differences between males and females in the actual number of network members listed and described. Males were much more likely to report having larger groups of intimate friends than did females. While females tended to nominate family members as role models and were more likely to indicate feeling close to both male and female peers, males indicated overwhelmingly that they felt close to male peers. The differences indicate that male and female adolescents experience very differently structured forms of social support. These results are discussed as they relate to gender differences found in achievement and other indices of competence during adolescence.
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This study was supported by a grant from National Institute of Health (NICHD-R23 HD16844-03) to the author and by the Center for the Study of Youth Development and the Computer Center at Catholic University. The author gratefully acknowledges the major contribution of Cassandra Danley to data management, and the assistance of Melva Covington, Debra Japzon, Diane Kern, and Livia Sparks in collecting data, and of Douglas Sloane for suggesting the analyses. A version of this paper was presented at Society for Research in Child Development Meetings, Toronto, April 1985.
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Coates, D.L. Gender differences in the structure and support characteristics of black adolescents' social networks. Sex Roles 17, 667–687 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287682
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287682