The current study focuses on the emergence of friendship networks among just-acquainted individuals, investigating the effects of Big Five personality traits on friendship selection processes. Sociometric nominations and self-ratings on personality traits were gathered from 205 late adolescents (mean age=19 years) at 5 time points during the first year of university. SIENA, a novel multilevel statistical procedure for social network analysis, was used to examine effects of Big Five traits on friendship selection. Results indicated that friendship networks between just-acquainted individuals became increasingly more cohesive within the first 3 months and then stabilized. Whereas individuals high on Extraversion tended to select more friends than those low on this trait, individuals high on Agreeableness tended to be selected more as friends. In addition, individuals tended to select friends with similar levels of Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Openness.

The current study examined the longitudinal associations of time spent on Internet activities for communication purposes (i.e., IM-ing) versus time spent on Internet activities for non-communication purposes (i.e., surfing) with depression and social anxiety, as well as the moderating role of perceived friendship quality in these associations. Questionnaire data were gathered from 307 Dutch middle adolescents (average age 15 years) on two waves with a one-year interval. For adolescents who perceive low friendship quality, Internet use for communication purposes predicted less depression, whereas Internet use for non-communication purposes predicted more depression and more social anxiety. These results support social compensation effects of IM-ing on depression and poor-get-poorer effects of surfing on depression and social anxiety, respectively.

The authors examined associations of perceived similarity, actual similarity, and peer-rated similarity in personality with friendship intensity during the acquaintanceship process in a naturalistic setting. Self- and peer-rated personality data were gathered from undergraduates (mean age = 18.9) at 5 time points during the first year of university using a round-robin design. Whereas perceived similarity and peer-rated similarity in personality were concurrently associated with more friendship intensity for just-acquainted individuals, actual similarity in personality was not. Further, bidirectional cross-lagged associations between perceived similarity and friendship intensity were found. Peer-rated similarity was also associated with increases in friendship intensity, and this association was mediated by communication frequency. These results indicate that specific types of similarity in personality are differentially associated with friendship intensity during early phases of acquaintanceship in a real-life setting. Further, insight was provided in the direction of causality between similarity and attraction: Perceived and peer-rated similarity seem to breed friendship intensity, whereas friendship intensity seems to breed perceived similarity only. Finally, peers' expectations seem to affect individuals' communicative behaviors, which in turn affect friendship formation.

The present study examines the role of similarity in music preferences in the formation and discontinuation of friendships over a 1-year period. Questionnaire data were gathered from 283 Dutch same-sex mutual best friends (mean age=12.97) in two waves with a 1-year interval. Results show consistent evidence for high similarity in specific music dimensions among friends at both waves. Moderate similarity was found in the overall patterning of preferences for music genres at both waves, even after controlling for similarity in social background. Specific music similarity in more non-mainstream music dimensions and overall music similarity at Wave 1 were related to selecting a new friend at Wave 2. However, similarity in music preferences was not related to the discontinuation of an existing friendship at Wave 2. Thus, results suggest that similarity in music preferences is related to friendship formation, and not to friendship discontinuation.

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