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- Title
Gossip, Friendship, and Sociometric Status.
- Authors
McDonald, Kristina L.; Putallaz, Martha; Grimes, Christina L.; Kupersmidt, Janis B.; Coie, John D.
- Abstract
This study examined the characteristics of gossip among fourth-grade girls and their close friends. Sixty friendship dyads were videotaped as they engaged in conversation, and their gossip was coded. Analyses revealed gossip to be a dominant feature of their interaction and that it was primarily neutral in valence. Sociometrically popular girls and their friends were observed to gossip more about peers, and their gossip was more evaluative than that between rejected girls and their friends. Gossip frequency and valence related to observed friend- ship closeness and friendship quality. Race differences in the characteristics of gossip were also explored. The study results are important in our efforts to develop a fuller understanding of the important interpersonal process of gossip and the functions that it serves in the context of close friendships.
- Subjects
GOSSIP; SOCIOMETRY; DYADIC analysis (Social sciences); DYADIC communication; TRIADS (Sociology); FEMALE friendship; INTERPERSONAL relations; SOCIAL perception; PEER relations
- Publication
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2007, Vol 53, Issue 3, p381
- ISSN
0272-930X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/mpq.2007.0017