PART 2: CHILDREN'S RELATIONSHIPS

Relationship with Peers

Friendships

Peer relationships can help satisfy different types of social needs 17 , can help develop skills (such as empathy, communication, cooperation and the management and resolution of conflicts ,18 19 ) and can provide a supportive context in which self-exploration, emotional growth and moral development can occur .20

Measure

The percentage of children aged 9-17 who report to have 3 or more friends of the same gender.

Key findings

  • In 2006, 89.5% of children aged 9-17 reported that they had 3 or more friends of the same gender (see Table 31).

Differences by gender, age and social class

  • In 2006, the percentage of children who reported having 3 or more friends of the same gender is relatively stable across gender and social class (see Table 31) and has increased slightly since 2002.
  • In 2006, a higher percentage of 9-year-old children reported having 3 or more friends of the same gender (94.2%). Data for this age group are not available for 2002.


Table 31: Percentage of children who report to have 3 or more friends of the same gender, by gender, age and social class (2002 and 2006)

    2002     2006  
  Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
Total 83.5 86.9 85.3 88.8 90.1 89.5
Age
9 years – – – 94.3 94.1 94.2
10-11 years 85.4 85.0 85.1 88.4 90.2 89.5
12-14 years 83.2 87.6 85.7 89.9 90.9 90.3
15-17 years 83.4 87.4 85.7 88.1 89.6 88.8
Social class
SC 1-2 84.1 88.5 86.8 88.5 90.8 89.6
SC 3-4 85.0 87.2 86.2 89.8 90.4 90.1
SC 5-6 83.7 85.1 84.5 90.3 90.7 90.4

Source: HBSC Survey

Differences by geographic area

  • Children in the Mid-West region are more likely (92.1%) to report having 3 or more friends of the same gender, while children in the West region are least likely (87.4%) to report this (see Table 32).

Table 32: Percentage of children who report to have 3 or more friends of the same gender, by NUTS Region (2006)

  2006
Border 90.9
Midlands 88.5
West 87.4
Dublin 87.9
Mid-East 90.6
Mid-West 92.1
South-East 90.3
South-West 90.2
Overall 89.5

Source: HBSC Survey

International comparisons

  • From the 2006 HBSC Survey, using the ages of 11, 13 and 15 only to draw international comparisons, 86.4% of Irish children reported having 3 or more friends of the same gender (see Figure 9). This is above the HBSC average of 79.0%.
  • Among all 41 countries and regions that used this HBSC item, the lowest percentage for this indicator was found among Greek children (54.8%) and the highest among children from Hungary (89.1%). Overall, Irish children ranked 7th.
  • Among the 35 countries and regions that used this HBSC item in 2002, Irish children ranked 1st (90.3%).

Figure 9: Percentage of children who report to have 3 or more friends of the same gender, by country (2006)

figure 7

Source: HBSC Survey

 

Technical notes
All data presented are drawn from self-report, self-completion questionnaires completed by children in schools. Thus, they are subject to potential biases in relation to self-presentation and memory. These measures may suffer from social desirability bias.

Percentage differences are presented for descriptive purposes only and may not reflect a statistically significant finding.

Social class (SC) is classified into one of the following groups (introduced in 1996 by the CSO), defined on the basis of occupation:

SC I: Professional
SC 2: Managerial
SC 3: Non-manual
SC 4: Skilled manual
SC 5: Semi-skilled
SC 6: Unskilled

NUTS is an acronym for the EU Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. This classification was legally established by EU Regulation No. 1059/2003 on 29 May 2003. In Ireland, NUTS is classified hierarchically as Level 1 - Ireland; Level 2 - Regions; and Level 3 - Regional Authorities. The 8 Regional Authorities in Ireland (NUTS 3 regions) were established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (see Appendix 2).

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17 Baumister, R. and Leary, M.R. (1995) 'The Need to Belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation', Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 117, pp. 497-529.

18 Hartup, W.W. (1989) 'Social Relationships and their Development Significance', American Psychologist, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 120-26.

19 Bender, D. and Losel, F. (1997) 'Protective and Risk Effects of Peer Relations and Social Support on Anti-Social Behaviour in Adolescents from Multi-Problem Milieus', Journal of Adolescence, Vol. 20, pp. 661-78.

20 Asher, S.R., Parker, J.G. and Walker, D.L. (1996) 'Distinguishing Friendship from Acceptance: Implications for intervention and assessment'. In: W.M. Bukowski, A.F. Newcomb and W.W. Hartup (eds.), The company they keep: Friendship in childhood and adolescence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.