Dominance and Affiliation as Factors in the Social Organization of Same-sex Groups of Elementary School Children

of dominance and affiliation in social organization. Videotapes of one group of boys (N = 12) and one group of girls (N = 12) were coded. The results indicated that for both male and female groups, it was possible to specify dominance, leadership initiation, and leadership organization hierarchies. Moreover, there was a highly convergent pattern among multiple indicators of social organization centering on dominance and affiliation. However, the correlation patterns after controlling for social play suggested that the initially similar patterns were accounted for in different ways. Among the girls, the primary element linking the various dimensions was level of social play. Among the boys, there remained a smaller yet interrelated network indicating regularity in rank position for diminance, successful bids, recipient of requests, and number of play partners.