Gender homophily from spatial behavior in a primary school: A sociometric study

• We investigate gender homophily in the spatial behavior of school children.
• We use behavioral data on face-to-face proximity measured by means of wearable sensors.
• Strong ties provide evidence for gender homophily, which is slightly stronger for boys.
• For strong ties, gender homophily increases with age.
• For weak ties, gender homophily decreases with age for girls, while it increases for boys.

We investigate gender homophily in the spatial proximity of children (6–12 years old) in a French primary school, using time-resolved data on face-to-face proximity recorded by means of wearable sensors. For strong ties, i.e., for pairs of children who interact more than a defined threshold, we find statistical evidence of gender preference that increases with grade. For weak ties, conversely, gender homophily is negatively correlated with grade for girls, and positively correlated with grade for boys. This different evolution with grade of weak and strong ties exposes a contrasted picture of gender homophily.