Contributions of Male and Female Guests and Hosts to Peer Group Entry

Abstract

92 7–9‐year‐old children (47 girls) were observed while attempting to join 2 relatively unfamiliar same‐ or opposite‐sex peers who were playing a board game. Female guests were less obtrusive than male guests in their entry approaches, whereas male guests were more active and assertive. Guests were less behaviorally constrained when approaching same‐ than opposite‐sex hosts. Female hosts were more attentive to the guests than male hosts, who tended to ignore the newcomers. Successful guests received initiations from the hosts, responded contingently to host initiations, and performed activity‐related behavior. Since female hosts initiated more behavior to the guests than male hosts, and female guests were more contingently responsive than male guests, girls entering female groups were the most successful. These findings support the thesis that peer group entry processes and outcomes are affected by the personal characteristics and contexts of both the entering children and their hosts.

Effects of Friendship and Gender on Peer Group Entry

“…Gender influenced entry outcomes as expected based on past research (e.g., Borja-Alvarez et al, 1991). Female hosts were more likely to include the guest than male hosts.…”

“…However, male hosts' higher exclusion rates coupled with their greater excitement levels relative to female hosts prior to the guest's arrival suggest that for boys, the (agentic) motive to win the game outweighed the (communal) motive to attend to the guest's needs.^° There is no indication that the boys' greater investment in the game was attributable to the greater inducement value of the prizes selected by boys than girls because all prizes were of approximsitely equal monetary value. Indeed, prize value likely had little to do with boys' achievement strivings because similar gender differences in entry outcome have been observed when no prizes have been offered (Borja-Alvarez et al, 1991). If we are correct that winning the game was the primary factor motivating male hosts, we would predict that gender differences in entry outcomes would be less pronounced or absent when the hosts' activity is not mastery oriented.…”

“…Motivated by well-founded clinical concerns that children who are unable to enter igroups will be deprived of opportunities to socialize with their peers, researchers have learned much about guest entry strategies that lead to success or failure (see Putallaz & Wasserman, 1990, for a review). Considerably less is known about the hosts' conitribution to the entry process, even though control of the outcome ultimately is in the hands of the hosts, and hosts' behavior may predict entry outcome better than guests' behavior (Borja-Alvarez, Zarbatany, & Pepper, 1991).…”

“…Regardless of the friendship status of the hosts and guest, gender differences in entry outcomes and processes were expected. Based on past research, male hosts were expected to place a higher priority on winning (see Lever, 1978 Weil, 1979; press), as evidenced by (a) higher excitement levels (Zarbatany & Pepper, in press), (b) less concern for the needs of the guest, as reflected in fewer attempts to consult with the guest during the decision making process, and (c) higher exclusion rates of guests than female hosts (Borja-Alvarez et al, 1991). These predictions are consistent with gender role theory (e.g., Eagly, 1987), which accounts for gender-differentiated behavior in terms of the relative strength of two general psychological orientations (Bakan, 1966;Wiggins, 1991): agency (i.e., the need to be independent, masterful, and powerful) and communion (i.e., the need to be connected, affiliative, nurturant).…”

An Observational Study of Social Exclusion Under Varied Conditions: Gender and Developmental Differences

“…The few contemporary, observational studies that bear on gender differences in social exclusion have emerged from the group entry literature and have not confirmed these earlier results. In a study with 7-to 9-year-olds in which a guest child attempted to join two hosts, girl hosts were more welcoming and girls' dyads were easier to join than were boys' dyads (Borja-Alvarez, Zarbatany, & Pepper, 1991). In a subsequent study with 10-to 12-year-olds, dyads of host friends had the choice of including a third child or winning a larger prize; girls were more likely to choose to welcome the guest than were boys (Zarbatany, Van Brunschot, Meadows, & Pepper, 1996).…”