Compare and Contrast the approach to studying children’s friendships taken in the Bigelow and La Gaipa (1975) study with that taken by William Corsaro.
In this essay you will read about the many similarities and differences of the study and research of children’s friendships expectations, which were approached by Bigelow and La Gaipa (1975) and William Corsaro (2006). Firstly I will introduce both of the different approaches and methods and I will then later go into the results of their work. I will later go on to talk about the problems with some of the methods and what could have been changed to solve these and lastly the similarities and differences between them both.
Bigelow and La Gaipa in 1975 approached a study on children’s
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William Corsaro wanted to explore more into how friendship changes and is meant in different places and different times, he wanted to look more into the communication of children with each other rather than have an interviewer. He made notes on the different activities of children and their interactions with each other, whilst video recording them, this is an example of an ethnographic approach. An ethnographic approach can be seen as better when it used with younger children which may not be good with words like elder children, also this way he could get a first-hand account of the Childs experiences.
Corsaro had to find a way of blending in with the social groups without seeming inconspicuous, he believed that a way which has worked well in the past is observing and watching from a distant and waiting to be approached by children, for them to then invite you into the social group. He firstly observed a group of children of the age of three years old playing in a box and discovered in order to gain access to be invited to play together you need to already be friends or become friends.
He then observed to three year old girls, Jenny and Betty and discovered that they became concerned about one another when one disappeared to play with someone else, Betty also reassures Jenny that they are still best friends.
William Corsaro’s last observation slightly contradicts Bigelow and La Gaipa’s idea of showing concern of each other comes as you get older,
When it comes to investigating friendship, one question that has been raised is ‘what is the role of friendship in the life of a 13 year old?’’. Several sources of data include ethnographic notes taken whilst spending time with a group of friends during school lunch breaks and diary/blog entries etc. Firstly, in this case the researcher would need to carefully consider the strengths and weaknesses of each type of data, for example, when looking at a blog the information/data available is likely to be information that the author wants to share with a wider audience whereas a diary entry is more private. In this case, both documents
Differences in childhoods can impact individual’s communication with each other in relationships. At a young age, children tend to play with other children that seem to be of the same gender as them. Both groups of genders have different ways of building a friendship. Tannen says that, “Little girls create and maintain friendships by exchanging secrets” (276). It is important to girls to share secretive things to get closer to one another and to get a mutual understanding. Unlike boys whose bonds are, “based less on talking, more on doing things together” (Tannen 276). Boys do not talk a lot unless the need to prove something. While girls are comfortable about talking about their feelings, boys feel uncomfortable because it is not something they discuss much.
The friends that a child or even an adult surround them self with can help that individual thrive throughout life or can be a facture in their failure to thrive. The culture of where you grow up is also plays a factor in how a child learns, and how a child behaves. For example where I grow up the boy where somewhat expected to be the typical “ manly men”. The boys where not support to cry, they had to be tough, go hunting, play football and all the stereotypical stuff that goes with being a “ manly man”. I can remember guys dropping out of choir because “Men don’t sing”. Now they have slowly started to change around that put overall the belief is still in
I was recently reading an article called The Importance of Friendships for School Aged Children by Ferrer & Fugate (2002), and in the article the authors argued that “Friends are vital to school-age children's healthy development…Friendships provide children with more than just fun playmates. Friendships help children develop emotionally and morally. In interacting with friends, children learn many social skills, such as how to communicate, cooperate, and solve problems” (pg.1). It is not until recently that I can see the importance and significance behind their words. Childhood friendships are a vital component to the social and emotional development of children. This period of time is also when a child is potentially introduced to a new
Friendships can occur in very young ages and can carry throughout a person's life.The friends that are made during elementary school
Comparable questions about the effects of friends and friendships with adolescents have been discussed in abstract writings for periods. However, in most recent years, some of the questions have been answered from realistic research. Advances in recent research have shown researchers succeeding in defining exactly what a good friendship is. In much of the literature, good friendships are now defined as friendships high in quality (e.g., Berndt, 1996). In this paper I will be focusing on how friendships have an important influence on adolescent’s attitudes, behaviors, and development. Some people don’t agree,
Research indicates that development of friendships begins in preschool ages 3 to 5. As communication skills increase, the desire to develop close friendships also increases during preadolescence and adolescence. Ability to develop communication skills that are conducive to forming close friendships determines the kind and an on occasion the number of friendships an individual has. Individual approaches to friendship are linked to attachment style (self esteem and interpersonal trust). Once these friendships are developed, do they influence individual social interactions? Yes, close friendships have influence on social interactions such as social activity level, mood, weight, political views, new friends, health, mortality, etc., which can be explained through the social learning theory; classical conditioning of observational learning. There has also been much empirical investigation examining selection and socialization effects with results indicating influences on a wide variety of attitudes and behaviors. There is also growing evidence of influence on health throughout an individual’s life.
“THE CO-EDUCATION IS VERY NECESSARY FOR THE GROWTH OF THE BOYS AND GIRLS BECAUSE IT PROVIDE THEM A HEALTHY AND SUITABLE ENVIRONMENT TO GROW”. (School 1980-1990)
My first real friends were my cousins. We grew up living very close to one another so in a way we were more like siblings then friends. I remember we would play for hours in the back yard. The areas we played in became a place to gain knowledge the back yard was no longer the back yard but a place where we would learn how to have friendships and interact with each other and the world around us. Erikson’s Theory Initiative versus Guilt describes a time period where children are excited to explore the world and have a need to tackle tasks and form friendships. Erikson’s theory underlines the importance of play and associates play with how young children learn about their world. Although some of my cousins are no longer here the memory of them still remains. The friendships I formed with them helped me with other relationships as I grew older. The interaction a child receives with their peers helps them learn and form attachments.
“Friendship attachments are important during adolescence because they are sources of emotional security and support, contexts for growth in social competence, and prototypes for later relationships” (Seiffge-Krenke, 1993)
Elementary school is designed to be a child 's best road to the real world. They learn how to add and subtract, how to speak in full constructed sentences, and what the world outside of their small community is like, but as school pushes their knowledge outwards, something else happens. Students begin to look inwards, attempting to figure out who they are and where they fit in this grand world opening up before their eyes. Are they artistic, athletic, intelligent, or musical? Are they the top of their class or the fastest on the field? This self-discovery drives children to seek out those similar to them. If they all can play an instrument, then they find comfort in each other; if they can all draw an advanced drawing than they feel an instant connection. I found my friends inside of cub scouts, those that are outgoing, and cooperative with others, and kept that connection with them at school. The reigning clique was of the athletically inclined. They had the highest social standing and the greatest ability to keep it. They got the first pick on the playground, they were the most popular, and if the class had to vote on who the line leader was it was always one of them.
Friendships are relationships involving voluntary interaction, during which subjects respond to each other on a personal level (Wright, 1984). Friendship is not only important in childhood and school life, but also throughout our lives (Siebert, Mutran & Reitzes, 1999). Hay, Payne and Chadwick (2004) suggest that children’s relationships with their peers emerge as early as the first years of life and children can begin to develop preferences for certain peers by age three. Friendships (or lack thereof) can have a significant impact in many areas of our lives including, but not restricted to: marital happiness, weight, job satisfaction and poverty (Rath, 2006). Research into friendship is an extremely important topic.
The benefits of friendships are based on quality. In the article Preschool Children’s Friendships and Peer Acceptance: Links to Social Competence, it discusses that children’s ability to form positive relationships with peers represents an important component of social development (Lindsey). Social development is about putting people at the centre of development. Eric Lindsey says that “in order to determine the developmental significance of children’s friendships, it is important to consider how the ability to establish and maintain a friendship are related to other dimensions of children’s social functioning” (Lindsey). Friendships are related to other dimensions of children’s social functioning because having many
Young children are more likely to form friendships with children who they see on a regular basis. Preschool friends are more likely to maintain close proximity to one another than children who are not friends (Lindsey). The findings of this study suggest that mutual friendship is an important factor in children 's social development as early as the preschool years.
Proximity has also been indicated in the analyses as one of the main ingredients of friendship. Most often friendships are initiated when people meet for a prolonged period of time. Childhood friendships are often created in the playground or school, adult friendships in the university or work and motherhood friendships in a mother and toddler group or through the kid’s school. In our days, proximity does not necessarily mean a