The friendships and play partners of lonely children

Abstract

The research examines the play partners and friendship patterns of a sample of children (N= 409) from four separate clusters (lonely, rejected, lonely and rejected, and nonlonely/nonrejected controls). Controls were more likely than rejected, lonely and lonely/rejected children to have a best friend. Control and rejected children differ from lonely and lonely/rejected children by reporting significantly more support from a close friend. Observations of play showed that lonely, lonely/rejected and rejected children are not isolated and dyadic interactions between children in these three clusters were likely to be positive in nature, involving pro-social acts, and acts that were positively received by others. We note that there are discrepancies between children’s reports of friendships and observations of play partner choice and we consider why this might be the case.