Friendship, gender, and preadolescents' representations of peer collaboration

The experience of collaboration from preadolescents' perspectives was examined as a function of dyad gender and degree of friendship. Sixth graders (11-13 years, mostly White and middle class) worked within same- and other-gender dyads (18 girl, 17 boy, 17 mixed-gender) of varying degrees of friendship on a 4-week-long creative writing task at school. Enjoyment expectations and affiliation perceptions were greater in dyads with greater degrees of friendship, and in same-gender dyads as compared with mixed-gender dyads. More positive enjoyment expectations and greater perceived affiliation, agreement, and influence were related to better task performance. Implications of these results for understanding the social context of collaboration from peer partners' perspectives and successful classroom collaborations are discussed.