Social Structure and Social Cognition in Early Adolescence: Affiliative Patterns

To investigate the relations between perceptions of the social structure and affiliative patterns in early adolescence, subjects in three grades of a junior high school were studied in a multi-method, longitudinal research design. Interview, observational, and rating procedures were employed to obtain information about the effective social clusters within each class. After one year, the social structure of the 7th grade (now 8th) was reassessed. The results indicate high levels of consensus (in terms of accuracy, lack of intrusion) among adolescents in their conceptions of the social systems of which they are a part. This outcome was obtained across three grades and across gender groups within each grade. The perceived social clusters were closely related to the occurrence of behavioral interchanges of a non-negative sort. Episodes of interpersonal conflict were as likely to occur with persons outside the individual's social cluster as with persons who were co-members. Implications of these findings for sociometric assessment and the veridicality of self-attributions are discussed.