Chinese children’s heterogeneous friendship quality trajectories: Relations with school adjustment.

Abstract

Friendships affect children's development and adjustment. This longitudinal study examined the possible heterogeneity and gender differences in the trajectories of children's friendship quality, as well as the relations between distinct friendship quality trajectories and school adjustment. A total of 3,779 Chinese elementary school students (45.5% girls, M age = 9.94 years, SD = 0.72 at Time 1) completed measures of relevant constructs on five occasions at 6-month intervals. Latent class growth modeling revealed four heterogeneous developmental trajectory classes of friendship quality: high-increasing (49.6%), moderatedecreasing (5.1%), moderate-increasing (31.9%), and low-stable (13.4%). Girls were more likely than boys to fall into the higher friendship quality trajectory classes in reference to the low-stable class. Children in the high-increasing class and low-stable class showed the best and the worst school adjustment, respectively. The identification of four heterogeneous developmental trajectories of friendship quality with differential school adjustment outcomes highlights the importance of intervention programs tailored to specific groups for promoting children's friendship quality and school adjustment. Impact and ImplicationsThe findings revealed four heterogeneous friendship quality trajectories classes in Chinese schoolchildren, with boys displaying higher odds of being in the low-stable class than girls. Also, friendship quality was positively related to children's subjective well-being in school and academic achievement. Friendship interventions should be tailored to members of specific groups for promoting optimal school adjustment.

The Moderating Effect of Parenting Styles Towards the Relationship of Self-Esteem and Friendship Quality on Juvenile Delinquency in Angeles City

“…The qualities and facets of a friendship that contribute to its robustness, physical and mental well-being, and overall positivity are referred to as its "friendship quality" [13]. The study by Omuris (2019) [14] elaborated on factors that may measure friendship.…”