Influences Between Online‐Exclusive,Conjoint and Offline‐Exclusive Friendship Networks: The Moderating Role of Shyness

Prior research has indicated that shy adolescents are more motivated to form friendships online than to form friendships offline. Little is known about whether having friendships found exclusively online may impact self‐esteem and forming offline friendships for these adolescents. This study therefore aimed to provide insight into the moderating role of shyness in the longitudinal interplay between friendships in online and offline contexts in early adolescence. Adolescents and their friends (193 girls, 196 boys; M_age = 13.29) were followed with three consecutive measurements with intervals of eight months. Results showed that particularly for shy adolescents, having friends exclusively online predicted increases in self‐esteem. Self‐esteem, in turn, was found to predict forming more friendships found both offline and online and forming more friendships found exclusively offline. Thus, findings supported the social compensation perspective that shy adolescents may benefit from having friends exclusively online, as these friendships may increase self‐esteem, thereby facilitating the formation of friendships found partially and completely offline. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship maintenance across platonic and non-platonic cross-sex friendships in emerging adults

Prior research examining maintenance in cross-sex friendships focuses heavily on platonic (i.e., nonsexually active) friendships with limited research examining sexually involved cross-sex friendships (i.e., “friends with benefits relationships”). In this study, we investigated differences in relational maintenance behaviors between sexually and nonsexually active cross-sex friendships types. In an online survey, 531 emerging adult participants from large southwestern and southeastern universities identified either a friends with benefits or platonic opposite sex friendship and then completed items asking them to report the frequency with which they enacted each of 36 relationship maintenance behaviors. Overall, participants involved in casual sex friendships engaged in the least, and those who transitioned from a friends-with-benefits relationship to a romantic relationship engaged in the most frequent relationship maintenance. Platonic friendships employed more frequent maintenance than casual-sex friendships but less than either true friends with benefits or participants who transitioned to a romantic relationship.     

The Impact of Youth Risk on Mentoring Relationship Quality: Do Mentor Characteristics Matter?

Although mentoring is a widely used intervention strategy, effect sizes for at‐risk youth remain modest. Research is therefore needed to maximize the impact of mentoring for at‐risk youth who might struggle to benefit from mentoring relationships. This study tested the hypothesis that different types of youth risk would have a negative impact on mentoring relationship quality and duration and explored whether mentor characteristics exacerbated or mitigated these negative effects. Results showed that elevated environmental stress at a youth's home and/or school predicted shorter match duration, and elevated rates of youth behavioral problems, such as poor academic performance or misconduct, predicted greater youth dissatisfaction and less positive mentor perceptions of relationship quality. Mentors with greater self‐efficacy and more previous involvement with youth in their communities were able to buffer the negative effects of environmental stress on match duration. Similarly, mentors' previous involvement with youth buffered the negative effects of youth behavioral problems on mentor perceptions of relationship quality. Findings have important implications for the matching of mentors and at‐risk youth in a way that improves mentoring outcomes.     

Political ideology and American intergroup discrimination: A patriotism perspective

ABSTRACT

Individuals tend to rate themselves more positively than strangers or acquaintances—a self-enhancement effect. But such self-enhancement is potentially detrimental to one's intimate relationships. We hypothesized that higher relationship quality would predict (1) partner-enhancement (i.e., rating the partner more positively than the self) and (2) higher feelings of being understood and validated (FUV). In addition, (3) partner-enhancement would add to relationship quality's prediction of FUV. These hypotheses were tested among cross-sex friendships (N = 92) and dating relationships (N = 90) in University students and in a married, non-University sample (N = 94). All hypotheses were supported in romantic relationships. For cross-sex friendships, regardless of relationship quality, individuals partner-enhanced on the negative traits but neither self- nor partner-enhanced on the positive traits. Finally, relationship quality predicted partner-perceptions more strongly than self-perceptions.     

Attachment, breakup strategies, and associated outcomes: The effects of security enhancement on the selection of breakup strategies

People tend to use different strategies to dissolve their romantic relationships (Baxter, 1982). The factors predicting selection of breakup strategies, and especially personality factors, have received relatively little attention. In five studies, using community and students samples, we revised the measure used to assess breakup strategy use, examined the outcomes of the revised strategies, and investigated the associations of these strategies with attachment dimensions. Attachment avoidance was associated with using less direct breakup strategies; whereas attachment anxiety was associated with using strategies meant to keep open the option of getting back together. In Studies 4 and 5, attachment-security primes were found to decrease these tendencies. Implications for relationship dissolution and attachment theory are discussed.     

Emotion regulation and peer-rated social functioning: A 4-year longitudinal study

Different emotion regulation strategies have been linked to distinct social outcomes, but only concurrently or in the short-term. The present research employed a 4-year longitudinal design with peer-reported measures of social functioning to examine the long-term social effects of emotion regulation. Individual differences in suppression before entering college predicted weaker social connections (e.g., less close relationships) at the end of college, whereas reappraisal predicted stronger social connections and more favorable sociometric standing (e.g., higher social status). These effects of emotion regulation remained intact even when controlling for baseline social functioning and Big Five personality traits. These findings suggest that individual differences in the use of particular emotion regulation strategies have an enduring impact, shaping the individual’s social environment over time.     

Close monitoring as a contextual stimulator: How need for structure affects the relation between close monitoring and work outcomes

In this article, we argue and demonstrate that employees’ Personal Need for Structure (PNS) moderates the negative effects of close monitoring on job satisfaction, intrinsic work motivation, and innovative job performance (as rated by their supervisors). In a field study (N = 295), we found that employees low in PNS reacted unfavourably to close monitoring, whereas employees high in PNS reacted more favourably to close monitoring. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the negative effect of close monitoring on job satisfaction and intrinsic work motivation among low PNS employees can be explained by a reduction of perceived autonomy. In contrast, the positive effects of close monitoring on these favourable outcomes among high PNS employees were associated with increased role clarity.     

Interpersonal perception in cross-group interactions: Challenges and potential solutions

This review provides a framework for theorising about the processes that give rise to interpersonal perception during encounters between two individuals who belong to different groups. Consistent with a dyadic approach, interpersonal perception is considered a function of the unique and combined effects of the perceptions and behaviours of both partners involved in the interaction. A model is presented in which negative expectancies give rise to feelings of anxiety and behavioural displays of anxiety, both of which in turn influence interpersonal judgements. Factors that vary at the level of the perceiver, target, and the interaction are examined as moderators of interpersonal perception. Lastly, given that the study of interpersonal perception within cross-group dyadic encounters is relatively new, several strategies that show promise for improving interpersonal perception are discussed. Turning towards the future this article concludes by discussing how research and theory outside the domain of intergroup relations can be used to develop innovative methods for improving perception processes.     

Cross-ethnic friendships,psychological well-being,and academic outcomes: Study of South Asian and White children in the UK

We examined whether two interpersonal processes, self-disclosure and affirmation of ideal self, mediated the relationship between cross-ethnic friendships and psychological well-being and academic outcomes. We conducted a cross-sectional survey with 484 secondary school children (243 White European, 241 South Asian British; M_age = 11.10, 220 boys, 264 girls) recruited from 35 multiethnic classrooms. Results of multilevel structural equation modeling revealed mediational effects of self-disclosure between cross-ethnic friendships and psychological well-being for only South Asian children. Affirmation also mediated the association between cross-ethnic friendships and both psychological well-being and academic outcomes for South Asian children. For White European children, affirmation mediated the association between cross-ethnic friendships and psychological well-being. Further analyses demonstrated that self-disclosure resulting from cross-ethnic friendship quality facilitated affirmation, which in turn promoted both sets of outcomes. Findings demonstrate that cross-ethnic friendships in multiethnic settings contribute to well-being through the generation of positive interpersonal processes.