A study of early differentiation of relatedness in relationship development among college students

Abstract

A study of early differentiation of relatedness in relationship development among college students KAZUHIDE YAMANAKA (Nagoya University)The purpose of this study was to investigate early differentiation of relatedness in the development of interpersonal relationships among college students. Forty-three male and fifty-one female freshmen completed questionnaires regarding their relationship with a same-sex individual with whom they had just met. They were surveyed longitudinally at weeks 1, 2, 4, and 11 of their first term at the university. Major findings were as follows : (1) Ratings of relatonship intimacy at week 2 predicted intimacy level at week 11, while ratings at week 1 did not. The results suggest early differentiation in relationship development. (2) Ratings of friendship intimacy at week 2 was correlated with dyadic behavior pattern, in which there were some interesting sex differences. With female subjects, friendship intimacy ratings were correlated with all dyadic behaviors for the past two weeks. On the contrary, with male subjects, ratings were highly correlated with companionship behavior while they were low with affection behavior for the past week.

The impact of a sense of belonging on lethargy and career maturity

“…Broadly speaking, females scored higher than males for a sense of belonging and a sense of one's own usefulness in regard to family and friends at university, while males scored higher for a sense of intrinsic comfort. According to Yamanaka [7], there is a gender difference in the behavior used to develop intimacy in relationships, with females prioritizing joint activity in a range of areas, while males prioritize shared activities and experiences, thus leading to the assumption that it is easy for them to feel the need for a sense of belonging among friends outside university. It is believed that these results reflect this assumption.…”

Amizade e focos de atividade na universidade

“…O apoio social é outra dimensão na qual família e amigos são relevantes, investigando-se a relação entre apoio social percebido da família e dos amigos (Antonio, 2001;Fukuoka & Hashimoto, 1995;Rodriguez, Mira, Myers, Morris & Cardoza, 2003;Kimura & Mizuno, 2004). Outros aspectos da amizade investigados entre estudantes universitários incluem auto-percepção e percepção dos amigos e da amizade (Okada, 1995;Okada, 1999;Basu & Ray, 2000;Toyama, 2002); apego e qualidade da amizade (Saferstein, Neimeyer & Hagans, 2005); diferenças de gênero em apego relacional e coletivo a grupos (Seeley, Gardner, Pennington & Gabriel, 2003); a busca de sensações fortes (Weisskirch & Murphy, 2004); conflito (Weinstock & Bond, 2000); confiança (Feldman, Cauffman, Jensen & Arnett, 2000), formação e desenvolvimento de amizades (Yamanaka, 1994;Yamanaka, 1998;Zorn & Gregory, 2005), incluindo os efeitos da transição para a universidade sobre amizades existentes (Paul & Kelleher, 1995;Paul & Brier, 2001;Oswald & Clark, 2003) e amizade e relacionamento entre professor e estudante (Bowman, Hatley & Bowman, 1995).…”