• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.73-82
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• 2016

Objective: This two-wave study examined stability in kindergarteners' friendship patterns over 5 months. Methods: Participants were 501 five-year-old children (262 girls and 239 boys) attending kindergartens in Seoul, Incheon, and Kyounggi provinces in Korea. Each child nominated three individuals as his/her friends in July, and again in December of 2013. Depending on the presence/absence of friendships and the mutuality of identifying friends, the children's friendship patterns were categorized into five groups: stable, fluid, loss, gain, and friendless. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, and chi-square tests. Results: Results revealed stability, as well as changes in friendship patterns, among kindergarteners over the 5-month period. The stable friendships, those that maintained the same friend(s) in both waves, was 43.7%, the fluid friendships, those that changed friends over the 5 month period was 18%, the gain friendships, those who had newly developed friends in wave 2 was 17%, and the loss friendships, those who had friends at wave 1 but lost friends at wave 2, was 9.8%. The friendless, those that had no friends in both waves, was 11.5%. Conclusion: Results showed that kindergarteners were capable of maintaining and making new friends over a 5-month period.