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This paper explores associations between two demographic characteristics (i.e., sex and grade level) and the peer network features (i.e., size, density, and demographic homophily) of 144 third through eighth grade students (ages 8—15) in an urban, US elementary school with considerable diversity in race and socioeconomic status. The results offer only partial support for the two cultures theory, as sex differences in network size attenuated with increasing grade levels. The findings also highlight developmental trends, including a curvilinear effect of grade on network density and grade-level increases in cross-sex and same-race relationships. Finally, the paper includes a discussion of the importance of opportunity structures for, and the joint consideration of sex and developmental influences on, children’s peer social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper applies a sociology of childhood approach to the study of the sexual socialisation of young children in the USA. It examines both children's and parents' active participation in this dynamic and collaborative process through conversations between 49 parents and their 54 preschool children that were audio-recorded while they read books about ‘where babies come from’. Parents also participated in a brief survey. The authors found that, while parents do foreclose such conversations as previous research has indicated, they also use a variety of other tactics, including adding information and emotion management. These findings illustrate children's active engagement in their own sexual socialisation through their questions, confusions and distractions, which affected the amount and type of information that was elicited. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]