title: The influence of race and gender on children's conversations and playmate choices.
abstract: The present study examined the influence of race and gender on children's conversations and friendship choices. Four hundred and twenty-eight children (M age = 7.5 years, SD = 0.34) from 2 racial minority groups (i.e., African Caribbean and South Asian) and the racial majority group (i.e., European) chose a picture of a playmate together with a peer. Race influenced the levels of assertion and affiliation in children's conversations. The effects of race on conversation also varied according to the gender of the children involved in interaction. Same-race pairs tended to choose in-group playmates, but same-race minority pairs showed less marked in-group preference. Cross-race pairs selected a majority-group child as a playmate most often.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey, United Kingdom. Patrick.Leman@rhul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Leman
authors.forename: Virginia L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003142:Communication; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012737:Sex Factors; D014705:Verbal Behavior