Adolescents' conceptions of the influence of romantic relationships on friendships

Although researchers have investigated how adolescents' friendships affect their romantic relationships, the influence of romantic relationships on friendships is unexamined. As a first step, 9th- (n = 198) and 11th grade students (n = 152) reported on their conceptions of friendship when one friend had a romantic relationship and when neither friend had a romantic relationship. As predicted, adolescents believed friendships in which a friend was dating would be characterized by less positive features and more negative features than friendships in which neither friend was dating. Additionally, older adolescents thought romantic relationships were more damaging to companionship and corumination than did younger adolescents. The closer nature of older adolescents' romantic relationships may result in lower quality friendships or older adolescents may be more aware of the potential negative consequences of romantic relationships for friendships. Girls viewed friendships as higher in conflict-rivalry and lower in corumination when one friend was dating while boys did not. And although girls and boys viewed friendships as lower in intimacy and companionship when a friend has a romantic partner, the difference was greater for girls than boys. Girls may be more sensitive to the effects of a friend's romantic relationship on their friendship than are boys. Findings necessitate theories of close relationships that incorporate age and gender as important variables.     

Parenting Attitudes and the Self-Esteem of Young Children

Second-, third-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children evaluated relationship qualities of a self-nominated friend and a self-nominated very best friend over a 6-month school year period. Results demonstrated that 76% of the friend relationships and 50% of the very best friend relationships were maintained over the course of the study. Children in maintained friendships evaluated their relationships more positively and also reported having larger friendship networks in general compared with children whose friendships did not endure over time. Thus those with unstable relationships are having difficulty initiating new friendships as well. For very best friends, positive relationship qualities (e.g., caring) did not change over time for children in maintained relationships, while positive relationship qualities decreased over time for children in nonmaintained relationships. Further, no differences emerged between children in maintained and nonmaintained very best friendships on perceptions of negative relationship qualities (e.g., conflict).     

Adolescents’ Conceptions of the Influence of Romantic Relationships on Friendships

Although researchers have investigated how adolescents’ friendships affect their romantic relationships, the influence of romantic relationships on friendships is unexamined. As a first step, 9th- (n = 198) and 11th grade students (n = 152) reported on their conceptions of friendship when one friend had a romantic relationship and when neither friend had a romantic relationship. As predicted, adolescents believed friendships in which a friend was dating would be characterized by less positive features and more negative features than friendships in which neither friend was dating. Additionally, older adolescents thought romantic relationships were more damaging to companionship and corumination than did younger adolescents. The closer nature of older adolescents’ romantic relationships may result in lower quality friendships or older adolescents may be more aware of the potential negative consequences of romantic relationships for friendships. Girls viewed friendships as higher in conflict-rivalry and lower in corumination when one friend was dating while boys did not. And although girls and boys viewed friendships as lower in intimacy and companionship when a friend has a romantic partner, the difference was greater for girls than boys. Girls may be more sensitive to the effects of a friend's romantic relationship on their friendship than are boys. Findings necessitate theories of close relationships that incorporate age and gender as important variables.     

How do we decide whom our friends are? Defining levels of friendship in Poland and the United States

Participants were 57 U.S. college students and 56 Polish university students and copper mine workers who judged the intimacy of 9 hypothetical relationships and also rated the intensity of their relationships with a best friend, a friend, and an acquaintance on the Friendship Intensity Measurement Scale (FIMS; T. S. Arunkumar & B. Dharmangadan, 2001). The present results confirmed that people perceive (a) relationships with best friends as more intense and intimate than other friendships and (b) other friendships as more intense and intimate than acquaintanceships. The results also indicated that Americans perceive all of their relationships, ranging from mere acquaintanceships to intimate friendships, as more intense and intimate than do Poles. It was somewhat surprising that there were no sex differences in either country in the perception of relationships. The authors discussed the research in the context of the difficulty of defining what friendship is and how an individual's cultural background might interact with person variables such as age and sex.     

Prospective associations between friendship adjustment and social strategies: friendship as a context for building social skills

The proposal that friendships provide a context for the development of social skills is widely accepted. Yet little research exists to support this claim. In the present study, children and adolescents (N = 912) were presented with vignettes in which a friend encountered a social stressor and they could help the friend and vignettes in which they encountered a stressor and could seek help from the friend. Social strategies in response to these vignettes were assessed in the fall and spring of the school year. Different indicators of friendship adjustment had unique effects on youths' strategies in response to helping tasks. Whereas having more friends predicted decreases in avoidant or hostile strategies, having high-quality friendships predicted emotionally engaged strategies that involved talking about the problem. Moreover, whereas having more friends predicted increases in relatively disengaged strategies, like distraction and acting like the problem never happened, having high-quality friendships predicted decreases in these strategies. The present study also tested whether youths' strategies in the fall predicted changes in friendship adjustment by the spring. Only strategies which may be seen as major friendship transgressions (i.e., avoiding or blaming the friend when the friend encounters a problem) predicted changes in friendship over time. Collectively, these results provide important new information on the interplay between social competencies and friendship experiences and suggest that friendships may provide a critical venue for the development of important relationship skills.     

Investigating Friendship Difficulties in the Pathway from ADHD to Depressive Symptoms. Can Parent–Child Relationships Compensate?

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with friendship difficulties. This may partly account for the increasingly recognised association between ADHD and subsequent depression. Little is known about the types of friendship difficulties that could contribute to the association between ADHD and depressive symptoms and whether other relationships, such as parent–child relationships, can mitigate against potential adverse effects of friendship difficulties. In a representative UK school sample (n?=?1712), three main features of friendship (presence of friends, friendship quality and characteristics of the individual’s classroom friendship group) were assessed in a longitudinal study with two assessment waves (W1, W2) during the first year of secondary school (children aged 11-12 years). These friendship features (W1) were investigated as potential mediators of the prospective association between teacher-rated ADHD symptoms (W1) and self-rated depressive symptoms (W2) seven months later. Parent–child relationship quality (W1) was tested as a moderator of any indirect effects of ADHD on depression via friendship. ADHD symptoms were inversely associated with friendship presence, friendship quality and positive characteristics of classroom friendship groups. Depressive symptoms were inversely associated with presence and quality of friendships. Friendship quality had indirect effects in the association between ADHD and subsequent depressive symptoms. There was some evidence of moderated mediation, whereby indirect effects via friendship quality attenuated slightly as children reported warmer parent–child relationships. This highlights the importance of considering the quality of friendships and parent–child relationships in children with ADHD symptoms. Fostering good quality relationships may help disrupt the link between ADHD symptomology and subsequent depression risk.

     

A Multimethod Exploration of the Friendships of Children Considered Socially Withdrawn by Their School Peers

Friendships of children considered socially withdrawn by their school peers were investigated within a population of elementary school children. Reciprocal friends were identified by a friendship nomination procedure; social withdrawal was assessed by peer nominations. Trained graduate students rated videotapes of dyads of friends (n = 58 dyads, of which 29 contained at least one withdrawn child) for selected features of friendship quality. In addition, each friend within a dyad provided ratings of the quality of the relationship. The videotaped data showed the withdrawn children to be somewhat restricted in their verbal communication with their friends, and less competitive with their friends, than were friends in a comparison group. In dyads consisting of one withdrawn and one nonwithdrawn child, the withdrawn child perceived the relationship as characterized by greater closeness and helpfulness than did the nonwithdrawn friend. Despite some signs of inhibited behavior within the friendship context, withdrawn children seem to have access to close friendships of high quality.     

Emotion understanding,pictorial representations of friendship and reciprocity in school-aged children

This study examined the relationship between emotional understanding, friendship representation and reciprocity in school-aged children. Two hundred and fifty-one Caucasian 6-year-old children (111 males and 140 females) took part in the study. The Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) and the Pictorial Assessment of Interpersonal Relationships (PAIR) were used. Children having a reciprocal friendship and children having a unilateral friendship with a child named as their “best friend” were compared on the emotional understanding task and on their pictorial representations of friendship. Multilevel analyses indicated that friendship status effects were not influenced by classroom-level differences. Results showed that children with reciprocal friendships drew themselves as more similar to and more cohesive with their best friends, and they showed better understanding of emotions, than children having a unilateral friendship. Finally, the implications of these findings for theoretical and empirical research development on friendship are discussed.     

Parents' structuring of children's daily lives in relation to the quality and stability of children's friendships

This study focused on the implications of parents' structuring of their children's home lives for the friendships of their children. Participants were 224 elementary‐school children (108 girls and 116 boys) from four grade levels in two schools in Aix‐en‐Provence, France. Most of the families were of middle or high socio‐economic status. The participating children were seen twice during the same school year in order to assess the stability of their friendship choices and the quality of their friendships. We used Lautrey's (1989) questionnaire in order to assess the parents' styles in the structuring of family life and related child‐rearing practice. This questionnaire delineates three structuring styles: 1) rigid, characterized by considerable imposition of routines with little leeway for exceptional circumstances; 2) flexible, in which established routines can be modified as circumstances dictate; and 3) laissez‐faire, characterized by an absence of predictability and routine. We measured friendship quality by means of Friendship Quality Scale developed by Bukowski, Hoza, and Boivin (1989). This scale consists of 23 items representing five dimensions: companionship, help, security, closeness and conflict. This tool was designed to elicit children's perceptions of a specific relationship with a friend. Results indicated a significant link between parenting style and both of the dimensions of child friendship we studied. Children from homes characterized by a laissez‐faire style of parenting have friendships with more positive features than children from homes with flexible or rigid styles. We also found that friendships were generally less stable and rated as less positive than in similar studies conducted in other countries.     

Friendships in middle childhood: Links to peer and school identification,and general self-worth

Children's friendships are important for well-being and school adjustment, but few studies have examined multiple indices of friendships together in middle childhood. The current study surveyed 7- to 11-year-olds (n = 314) about their friendships, best friendships, friendship quality and indices of self-worth, identification with peers, and identification with school. Peer relationships were positively related to self-worth, but not identification with peers or school. Best friendship quality moderated the relationship between number of reciprocated friendship nominations and self-worth. Children with a reciprocated best friend had higher friendship quality and peer identification than others. Where best friendship was reciprocated, the relationship with identification with peers was mediated via positive friendship quality. The results suggest that friendship reciprocity is particularly relevant for children's self-worth and identification with peers. The findings are discussed in relation to the importance of fostering the development of reciprocated friendships.

Statement of contribution

What is already known on this subject?

• Friendships are related to well-being, school relations, and how young people feel about their peers at school.
• Friendship quality may be important in moderating the relationship between peer relations and adjustment.

What does this study add?

• Various aspects of friendships are studied simultaneously with younger children than much previous research.
• Reciprocated best friendships were better quality than partial or non-reciprocated best friendships.
• Friendship reciprocity was most relevant for children's self-worth and peer identification.

     

Friendships of older men and women: exchange patterns and satisfaction

In this study we examined the relation between perceived equity of exchanges and friendship satisfaction for a sample of 110 older men and women. Respondents were interviewed concerning their relationship with their best friend and one other friend in their support network. Perceived equity was a significant predictor of friendship satisfaction only in the case of the other friend. In addition, results showed that men were involved in more equitable friendships than were women. Discussion focuses on the importance of equity consideration and gender differences in the friendships of older adults.     

Daily School Context of Adolescents' Single Best Friendship and Adjustment

Research on adolescent best friendships typically focuses on school-based friendships, ignoring important differences between classroom-based and out-of-school friendships. With data from 156 ninth-grade students, many of whom named more than 1 best friend across the 14-day period, the authors examined associations between the daily school context of one's best friendship and adjustment. Benefits of in-grade best friendships were found in academic engagement when a composite was assessed across the 2-week period. Daily findings were more complex and were different between weekends and school days. Out-of-grade best friends were named more frequently on weekends, and on weekend days in which they named an out-of-school best friend participants spent more time with that friend but felt like less of a good student. Implications for our understanding of friendship context and for the measurement of friendship itself are discussed.     

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Friendship Model of Relational Interdependent Self-Construal

A four-wave longitudinal study examined how relational-interdependent self-construal (RISC) or the tendency to think of one’s self in terms of close relationships, was related to cognitions and behaviors within friendships. In same-sex friendships, in both concurrent and prospective analyses, own RISC was associated with perceived friend’s RISC, own relationship supportive behaviors, and own relationship quality. Perceived friend’s RISC predicted perceived friend’s relationship supportive behaviors. Own behaviors predicted fulfillment of own friendship functions, which predicted own relationship quality. In prospective analyses, behaviors mediated the RISC-friendship function relation, and behaviors and friendship functions both mediated the RISC-relationship quality relation. However, the influence of perceived friend’s RISC on subsequent variables was through its association with perceived friend’s behavior, which was associated with own friendship functions concurrently.     

Beyond Similarities: Cross-Gender and Cross-Orientation Best Friendship in a Sample of Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Young Adults

The research investigates differences between heterosexual (n?=?714) and lesbian and gay men (n?=?386) young adults regarding best friendship patterns, well-being, and social anxiety. Based on data from a paper-pencil survey of 1,100 Italian young adults aged 18 to 26, this study underlines the importance of the best friend in young adults’ psychological adjustment, highlighting patterns of friendship in heterosexual and lesbian and gay men young adults. Overall, the majority of participants declared that they had best friends; in the total sample, significant differences were found between women and men, and between lesbian/gay men participants and heterosexual young adults. Lesbian and gay men participants reported more cross-gender best friendships than heterosexual participants did, as well as more cross-orientation best friendships. Gender differences were found only with regards to cross-gender friendships: gay men reported more cross-gender friendships than lesbians did, while heterosexual females reported a higher percentage of cross-gender best friendship than heterosexual males did. MANOVA analysis, only in the gay and lesbian sample, showed the effect of gender, cross-gender, and cross-orientation on well-being and social anxiety. For the well-being dimension, gay men participants with female best friends reported higher scores. In terms of social anxiety, lesbian and gay young adults with cross-gender and cross-orientation best friends reported lower levels of social anxiety.     

Good friendships,bad friends: Friendship factors as moderators of the relation between aggression and social information processing

The primary objective was to examine whether the associations between aggression and social information processing was moderated by friendship quality and the aggressiveness of the best friend. Drawn from a larger normative sample of 5th and 6th graders, 385 children (180 boys) completed questionnaires pertaining to friendship quality and social information processing. Friendship and peer nominations of behaviours were collected. Results revealed positive associations between aggressive behaviour and the endorsement of aggressive coping strategies in cases where the protagonist was an unfamiliar peer. However, one important exception emerged: no significant associations between aggression and aggressive coping were revealed for children with high-quality friendships with aggressive peers. In cases where the protagonist was the best friend, there was a significant relation between aggression and vengeful coping, but only for those participants who had a low-quality friendship with an aggressive friend.     

The Best Friendships of Shy/Withdrawn Children: Prevalence, Stability, and Relationship Quality

The mutual best friendships of shy/withdrawn and control children were examined for prevalence, stability, best friend's characteristics, and friendship quality. Using peer nominations of shy/socially withdrawn and aggressive behaviors, two groups of children were identified from a normative sample of fifth-grade children: shy/withdrawn (n = 169) and control (nonaggressive/nonwithdrawn; n = 163). Friendship nominations, teacher reports, and friendship quality data were gathered. Results revealed that shy/withdrawn children were as likely as control children to have mutual stable best friendships. Withdrawn children's friends were more withdrawn and victimized than were the control children's best friends; further, similarities in social withdrawal and peer victimization were revealed for withdrawn children and their friends. Withdrawn children and their friends reported lower friendship quality than did control children. Results highlight the importance of both quantitative and qualitative measures of friendship when considering relationships as risk and/or protective factors.     

Friendship and social competence in a sample of preschool children attending Head Start

Relations between friendship (operationalized as reciprocated or nonreciprocated sociometric choices) and social competence were studied for children (mostly African American) attending Head Start. Initial analyses showed that children with reciprocated friends had higher social competence scores than children without reciprocated friends. Correlations suggested that the number of reciprocated friendships was associated with the social competence indicators studied here. Beyond the cost of having no reciprocated friends, having nonreciprocated friendships was not a liability. Cross-time analyses suggested differing patterns of relations for boys and girls. Having versus not having a reciprocated friend was unstable across time, because there was a trend toward participating in reciprocated friendships from 3 to 4 years of age (most older children had at least 1 reciprocated friend). For girls there was a positive relation between the number of reciprocated friendships at Time 1 and at Time 2. No benefit (in terms of social competence) was found for children making the transition from 1 classroom to the next with a friend.     

Friendship Intimacy Exchange Buffers the Relation between ADHD Symptoms and Later Social Problems among Children Attending an After-School Care Program

The friendships of children displaying symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been understudied, particularly in comparison to the domain of peer rejection. This study tested whether friendship intimacy exchange buffers the prospective relation between ADHD symptoms and social problems 1 year later in a sample of children attending a community-based after-school program. Children (N?=?131; 53 % boys; 66 % African American) ranging from 5 to 13 years of age participated in this study. At baseline, children reported on friendship intimacy exchange with their identified best friend, and program staff rated children on ADHD symptoms and social problems. Staff ratings of children’s social problems were collected again 1 year later. Multiple regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for demographic variables and baseline social problems, friendship intimacy exchange significantly moderated the association between ADHD symptoms and social problems at the one-year follow-up. Specifically, the relation between ADHD and social problems was no longer significant for children reporting high levels of friendship intimacy exchange. This moderation was not further qualified by either child age or sex, although boys were more likely than girls to report low rates of friendship intimacy exchange. These findings indicate the importance of friendship intimacy for children displaying ADHD symptoms, who often experience significant peer problems. Friendship quality may be a promising target for prevention and intervention efforts in mitigating some of the long-term social problems associated with ADHD symptomatology, and future research is needed to extend these findings to other domains of friendship quality and clinical samples of children with ADHD.     

Adolescent–parent attachment characteristics and quality of youth sport friendship

ObjectivesTo examine the link between security of adolescent–parent attachment relationships and experiences of friendship quality in male team sport participants.Design and methodNinety six male adolescents involved in team sports completed self-report assessments of relationship security with a key parental attachment figure and of the nature of their friendship with a nominated sporting best friend. Teammates and coaches also provided ratings related to how easy they found it to get along with participants.ResultsResults provided evidence that the nature of the adolescent–parent attachment relationship was significantly related to sporting friendship experiences. More secure adolescent–parent attachment characteristics corresponded to more positive sporting friendships. Furthermore, sporting friendship dyads where both friends reported more secure attachment relations with parents were experienced more positively than dyads where both friends were less securely attached to parents or even where one friend was less securely attached.ConclusionThere is a suggestion that adolescent attachment relations with parents are indicative of underpinning working models of attachment that may subsequently influence the manner in which youngsters negotiate friendships in sporting contexts.     

FEMINISM AND WOMEN'S FRIENDSHIPS

The ideology of "sisterhood" within the feminist movement suggests that feminists' and nonfeminists' same–sex friendships would differ profoundly. This assumption was tested by examining the friendships of 45 heterosexual nonfeminists, 43 heterosexual feminists, and 38 lesbian feminists from a large midwestern city. Participants ranged in age from 19 to 46. Using objective measures, differences were found between feminists and nonfeminists for some structural dimensions of friendship, including number of cross–generational friendships, degree of equality, and amount of privacy preferred with a best friend. Lesbian feminists preferred more privacy with their friends than nonfeminists, but rated their friends as lower on relationship quality and degree of equality than heterosexual feminists and nonfeminists. The three groups did not differ on the affective content of friendship, including liking, loving, satisfaction and commitment. However, feminists subjectively perceived their feminism as having contributed to both structural and affective changes in their friendships.