Perceived locus of control and satisfaction in same–sex friendships

Two studies examined perceptions of locus of control (LofC) and friendship satisfaction. Study 1 tested the accuracy of college students’ perceptions of a friend's LofC and their friendship satisfaction. Participants perceived their friends to be similar to themselves on LofC and satisfaction but these perceptions did not match the friends’ self–ratings. Instead, the perceptions reflected a belief in the similarity to the self—the Attraction–Similarity Hypothesis. Study 2 tested whether own and perceived friend's LofC predicted own satisfaction. The Internality Hypothesis indicates that an external LofC would predict dissatisfaction but an internal LofC would predict satisfaction. It was also predicted that these effects would be stronger for women's friendships than for men's friendships. For female, but not male, friendships, perceptions of the friend's external LofC predicted dissatisfaction.