Body esteem (BE) refers to self-evaluations of one's body or appearance. This article outlines a BE questionnaire for adolescents and adults that has 3 subscales: BE-Appearance (general feelings about appearance), BE-Weight (weight satisfaction), and BE-Attribution (evaluations attributed to others about one's body and appearance). The subscales have high internal consistency and 3-month test-retest reliability. Females scored lower than males on BE-Weight and BE-Appearance. BE-Weight was the only subscale uniquely related to weight, especially in females, with heavy individuals tending to be dissatisfied with their weight. BE-Appearance was the only subscale that consistently predicted self-esteem. BE-Appearance and BE-Weight covaried more with Neeman and Harter's (1986) Appearance subscale than with other self-esteem subscales; BE-Attribution covaried more with social self-esteem subscales than did BE-Appearance and BE-Weight.

Intergroup contact and friendship are keystones to the reduction of prejudice, yet most available data on this topic are based on indices that do not actually reflect contact or relationships. This study examined various indices of peer relations (viz., interactive companions, mutual friendships, and the stability and perceived qualities of mutual friends) for elementary school students who differed in grade, gender, and racial background; and it explored whether racial attitudes were associated with befriending or avoiding classmates. Cross-race mutual friendships declined with grade, and among fifth-graders were less likely to show 6-month stability than same-race friendships. Despite overall same-race selectivity, mutual cross-race friends, once selected, did not differ significantly from samerace ones in friendship functions such as loyalty and emotional security; only with respect to intimacy were they rated lower. Finally, racial prejudice was most strongly related to the number of excluded classmates, while children with less biased attitudes had more cross-race interactive companions and more positive perceptions of their friends.

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Two studies established the psychometric properties of two friendship questionnaires; one taps respondents' feelings for a friend and satisfaction with the friendship, the other, respondents' assessments of the degree to which a friend fulfills six friendship functions (stimulating companionship, help, intimacy, reliable alliance, self-validation, and emotional security). Factor analysis confirmed the subscale structure of each questionnaire. The subscales showed high internal consistency, distinguished best from casual friends, and did not covary with social desirability. They did covary with the duration of being a best friend and with a self-esteem subscale regarding close friends, but not with other self-esteem measures. Women reported higher positive feelings for their friend than did men, and evaluated the friend higher on friendship functions. Finally, positive feelings and satisfaction covaried with each friendship function subscale. The research here concerns the development and validation of two multi-scale friendship questionnaires-one concerning a respondent's feelings for a friend and friendship, the other concerning the respondent's assessment of the degree to which the friend fulfills six friendship functions. The studies grew out of work on friendship quality in children and young adolescents (Aboud & Mendelson, 1996; Mendelson, Aboud, & Lanthier, 1994). The goal here was to design measures, based on a similar model of friendship, suitable for late adolescents and young adults. Friendships, like other relationships, vary in quality. Although it is difficult to judge friendship quality in behavioral terms, length of the relationship and reciprocated versus nonreciprocated nominations are gross criterion measures of friendship quality. Furthermore, individuals can specify types of friendships, distinguishing, for example, between best friends, good friends, casual friends, and acquaintances (i.e., nonfriends); and such distinctions are also gross criterion measures of quality. Gender also provides a criterion for validating friendship measures, because there is ample evidence that gender differences do exist, with women's friendships characterized by better overall quality, closeness, enjoyment, intimacy, and nurturance (e.g., Bell, 1991; Jones, 1991; Sapadin, 1988; Wright & Scanlon, 1991). Thus, any friendship measure should be sensitive enough to differentiate women's and men's friendships. At the most general level, relationships can be assessed as positive or negative. In these terms, friendship scales have been developed to assess attachment to the friend and conflict. 2 Attachment refers to the special 1 This paper was completed in 1997; we subsequently published a brief version (Mendelson & Aboud, 1999). Part of the research was presented as a poster (Measuring Friendship Quality in Late Adolescents and Young Adults) at the American Psychological Association, Toronto, ON, August, 1996.

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