In the United States, the duration of children's preschool attendance differs, with some children attending full-day preschool and some children attending half-day preschool. This difference provides uneven daily exposure to peers that may have implications for childhood social outcomes, including the formation of social networks over time. In this study, we examined the role of full- and half-day preschool attendance in children's social network formation. Specifically, using stochastic actor-oriented modeling (i.e., a type of longitudinal social network analysis appropriate for measuring relationship formation over time), we analyzed longitudinal social network data from an intensive observational study of 25 three-year-old and 28 four-year-old students’ social play relationships in 2 preschool classrooms over the course of an entire school year. Our results provide no evidence that attending full-day preschool has a positive effect on the formation of social play relationships in early childhood. Instead, 3-year-old children who attended full-day preschool were significantly less likely than their half-day peers to form social play relationships over time. We discuss potential developmental and contextual factors that might explain this finding as well as future directions for research and practice.

在美国，孩子上学前班的时间长短不同，有些孩子上全日制学前班，有些孩子上半日制学前班。这种差异提供了与同龄人的日常接触不均衡，这可能对儿童社会结果产生影响，包括随着时间的推移社交网络的形成。在这项研究中，我们检查了全日制和半日制学前班在儿童社交网络形成中的作用。具体来说，使用面向随机参与者的建模（即，一种适用于测量一段时间内关系形成的纵向社交网络分析），我们分析了对 25 名 3 岁和 28 名 4 岁学生在整个学年期间在 2 个学前班教室的社交游戏关系进行的深入观察研究中的纵向社交网络数据。我们的研究结果没有提供证据表明参加全日制学前班对儿童早期社会游戏关系的形成有积极影响。相反，随着时间的推移，参加全日制学前班的 3 岁儿童与半日制同龄人相比，形成社交游戏关系的可能性要小得多。我们讨论了可能解释这一发现的潜在发展和背景因素以及未来的研究和实践方向。相反，随着时间的推移，参加全日制学前班的 3 岁儿童与半日制同龄人相比，形成社交游戏关系的可能性要小得多。我们讨论了可能解释这一发现的潜在发展和背景因素以及未来的研究和实践方向。相反，随着时间的推移，参加全日制学前班的 3 岁儿童与半日制同龄人相比，形成社交游戏关系的可能性要小得多。我们讨论了可能解释这一发现的潜在发展和背景因素以及未来的研究和实践方向。