Sex differences in social participation.

Abstract

Twenty female and 38 male first-year college students maintained a daily record of their social interactions for 2 weeks early in the fall semester and for 2 weeks late in the spring semester. Over all interactions, females decreased time per day in interaction more than males did, primarily by reducing the length of interactions, and reported decreased satisfaction with these interactions. In interactions with three best same-sex friends, females also decreased length more than males did but maintained a higher level of satisfaction Number of interactions with same-sex best friend decreased markedly for females but not for males. The results were interpreted as showing that females socialize more intensely in the new environment than males and make use of the same-sex best friend to deal with the social stimulation. Differences between the sexes on interaction measures in the spring were minimal. Social psychology is often denned as the study of social interaction, and social psychologists do indeed study social interaction in a variety of ways. Strangely enough, however, social scientists in general are hard pressed to answer some of the most basic questions about social interaction: questions such as how much time during a day do people spend in social interaction? With how many different people do they interact? How long is the average interaction? How many people are involved in the typical social encounter, and what is its sexual composition? What differences exist among people in their reactions to their social lives? For each of these questions and the many others that could be asked, a second question immediately follows: In what ways, if any, do males and females differ in their social behavior? Using sex-based characteristics is a nearly universal way of describing