School/Nonschool Friendship Patterns in Early Adolescence

This research examined the school/non school ecology of early adolescent friendship activity using data from a sample of 292 junior high school students. Principal components analyses of friendship measures revealed distinct dimensions for activities that occur during and outside school with the best school friend Social skill and environment related obstacles to seeing school friends outside school were also identified. Additional analyses indicated that activity with the best school friend was more frequent during rather than outside school and that environmental obstacles interfered to a greater extent with seeing school friends outside school than did social skill problems. Activity with the best school friend during and outside school was related to self-esteem among boys but not among girls. The discussion addresses the ecological context of early adolescent friendships and promising directions for future research.