Content area
Socioemotional relationships significantly influence students’ learning, development, and school well-being. This study explored gender differences in sympathy and antipathy based on data originally gathered via a digital platform primarily designed for mathematical learning. The platform administered a sociometric test to a large sample (3090 of fourth-grade students (mean age = 10.19 years, 47.7% girls) in the Chilean Metropolitan Region. Teachers facilitated the test, allowing students to nominate peers they liked and disliked. The study confirmed a trend of homophily in sympathy, with students preferring same-gender peers. It also revealed a gender disparity in antipathy: girls nominated an average of 5.27 disliked classmates (SD = 7.20), 1.45 more nominations than boys, with a Cohen’s d of 0.22. These findings provide insights to enhance school climate and address the mental health implications of social exclusion, considering gender differences. These results underscore the potential of scalable digital tools to support educators in monitoring peer dynamics and fostering inclusive, emotionally supportive school environments.
Details
Peer Relationship;
Males;
Social Status;
Adolescents;
Females;
Social Isolation;
Social Characteristics;
Social Problems;
Meta Analysis;
Interpersonal Competence;
Mental Health;
Interpersonal Relationship;
Prosocial Behavior;
Friendship;
Child Development;
Classrooms;
Emotional Problems;
Intimacy;
Aggression;
Antisocial Behavior;
Educational Environment;
Networks;
Behavior Problems;
Gender Differences
Nominations;
Behavior;
Peer relationships;
Students;
School environment;
Social exclusion;
Friendship;
Social anxiety;
Classrooms;
Aggressiveness;
Social interaction;
Social support;
Peers;
Preferences;
Well being;
Girls;
Mental depression;
Children & youth;
Mental health;
Gender identity;
Teenagers;
Sympathy;
Sociometry
