Racial Integration and Children's Peer Preferences: An Investigation of Developmental and Cohort Differences

SINGLETON, LOUISE C., and ASHER, STEVEN R. Racial Integration and Children's Peer Preferences: An Investigation of Developmental and Cohort Differences. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 936-941. Previous research employing nomination sociometric measures indicates a strong racial bias in children's friendship choices. The present study examined cross-race acceptance on a rating-scale measure which assessed liking rather than best friendship. Children were asked to indicate how much they liked to play and work with each of their classmates. 38 black and 116 white children were tested in the third grade in 1973 and again in 1976 when they were in the sixth grade. To assess possible cohort differences, an additional sample of 52 black and 153 white third-grade children were tested in 1976. Children in both samples had experienced integrated education from kindergarten onward. Results indicated that children gave rather positive ratings to cross-race classmates and that race accounted for much less of the variance in children's ratings than did sex. Data from the longitudinal sample indicated greater own-race preference among older children, particularly among black children. There was little evidence of cohort differences. Overall, the results provide a more positive picture of cross-race acceptance than obtained in previous research.