Methodological moderators of average outdegree centrality: A meta-analysis of child and adolescent friendship networks

Empirical articles vary considerably in how they measure child and adolescent friendship networks. This meta-analysis examines four methodological moderators of children’s and adolescents’ average outdegree centrality in friendship networks: boundary specification, operational definition of friendship, unlimited vs. fixed choice design, and roster vs. free recall design. Specifically, multi-level random effects models were conducted using 261 average outdegree centrality estimates from 71 English-language peer-reviewed articles and 55 unique datasets. There were no significant differences in average outdegree centrality for child and adolescent friendship networks bounded at the classroom, grade, and school-levels. Using a name generator focused on best/close friends yielded significantly lower average outdegree centrality estimates than using a name generator focused on friends. Fixed choice designs with under 10 nominations were associated with significantly lower estimates of average outdegree centrality while fixed choice designs with 10 or more nominations were associated with significantly higher estimates of average outdegree centrality than unlimited choice designs. Free recall designs were associated with significantly lower estimates of average outdegree centrality than roster designs. Results are discussed within the context of their implications for the future measurement of child and adolescent friendship networks.