Inter‐ethnic Friendship in British Primary Schools

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Abstract
A set of three sociometric questions were presented to a total sample of 3,953 white, West Indian and Asian children between the ages of seven and eleven years to ascertain the pattern of inter‐ethnic friendship in primary schools. The schools were equally divided, between the north and south of England and between schools with 50 per cent, or more, minority group children and those with 20 per cent, or less. Although there were some variations in the extent of ethnic cleavage associated with the concentration of a particular group within a school or its geographical location, a significant degree of in‐group preference characterized the friendship patterns of all three ethnic groups. Furthermore, all three groups were more reluctant to take home friends from a different ethnic background than they were either to sit with them in class or play with them in the playground.