Friendship Reciprocity, Stability, and Quality of Students With or at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.

The purpose of this study was to provide deeper insight into the substantive nature of the friendships of students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. We examined the friendship nominations of a group of U.S. kindergarten to third grade students with or at risk for emotional and...

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Published in:Behavioral Disorders Vol. 51; no. 1; pp. 3 - 18
Main Authors: Granger, Kristen L., Chow, Jason C., Broda, Michael D., Reichel, Meghan
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. Nov2025
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Nov2025
      vid: 51
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      pub: Sage Publications Inc.
      place: Thousand Oaks, California
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        atl: Friendship Reciprocity, Stability, and Quality of Students With or at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.
      aug:
        au:
          Granger, Kristen L.
          Chow, Jason C.
          Broda, Michael D.
          Reichel, Meghan
        affil: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
      sug:
        subj:
          Affective Disorders
          Child Behavior Disorders
          Students, Elementary Psychosocial Factors
          Friendship
          Interpersonal Relations Evaluation
          Human
          Funding Source
          United States
          Male
          Female
          Child
          Descriptive Research
          Prospective Studies
          Convenience Sample
          Questionnaires
          Interviews
          Descriptive Statistics
          T-Tests
          Child: 6-12 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: The purpose of this study was to provide deeper insight into the substantive nature of the friendships of students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. We examined the friendship nominations of a group of U.S. kindergarten to third grade students with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (focal students), and their classmates, to describe the reciprocity, stability, and quality of friendships at two time points during the school year. Results revealed that a majority of focal students nominated at least one best friend in the beginning of the year. However, only 32% of these nominations were reciprocated by their classmates. Focal student's reports of friendship quality did not differ between their reciprocated and unreciprocated nominations. Later in the year, 60% of the friendship nominations from Time 1 remained. However, focal student's perceptions of friendship quality did not differ between the stable and unstable nominations. Finally, of the friendship nominations that were present at Time 1 and Time 2, approximately 48% were reciprocated. Findings reinforce that focal students experience social challenges, and that this population of students may overestimate the presence of reciprocal friendships. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of this work for research and practice.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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