5.3.2. Children's friendship nominations
During the individual child interview at T1, each participant was first asked if they had any friends at day care. Those who responded in the affirmative were asked to identify their friends using the procedures described earlier, i.e., by pointing out their friend(s) from photographs of their day care group placed in front of them and naming their friend(s) at day care. Children were then asked if they had any “best friends” at day care, defined as friends “you like to play with the most.” Drawing on Howes (1987) developmental model, this definition was used because it was anticipated that the younger children in the sample may have difficulty distinguishing close friends from playmates unless cued to do so. Moreover, in the context of group day care, terms such as “friends” and “playmates” may be used interchangeably by staff so that the distinction is unclear to young children unless prompted to consider whom of their peers they like or play with the most. Participants who responded positively were asked to identify their best friend(s), by pointing to the friend's photograph and naming the friend. Children's best friend nominations were used in subsequent analyses as these were thought to represent the peers with whom participants affiliated most strongly.