Developmental changes and gender differences in adolescents' perceptions of friendships

Abstract

This five-wave study aims to investigate the development of adolescents' perceptions of support, negative interaction, and power in best friendships from ages 12 to 20 years. Furthermore, gender differences and linkages between the three dimensions are explored. A total of 593 early adolescents (53.6% boys) and 337 middle adolescents (43.3% boys) participated. A multigroup multivariate accelerated growth curve showed an increase of support for both boys and girls. Negative interaction was found to temporarily increase and then decrease for boys, while remaining stable for girls. Power temporarily increased for boys and decreased for girls. Results indicated that (1) friendships become more supportive during adolescence, (2) power issues are more prominent in friendships of boys and more powerful peers are perceived as more supportive by boys but not by girls, and (3) friendships of boys show a lagged development towards more equality.

A closer look at co‐rumination: Gender, coping, peer functioning and internalizing/externalizing problems

“…Theoretical and empirical work suggests that as adolescents become more autonomous from parents, their friendships become increasingly intimate and offer an important source of social support (De Goede, Branje, & Meeusy, 2009;Furman & Buhrmester, 1992;Sullivan, 1953). There is also evidence that stress and coping responses vary across development in terms of the types of stressors adolescents experience as stressful, the competencies and behaviors adolescents can bring to bear to cope with stress, and the flexibility with which they can draw on their coping repertoire.…”

Psychosocial functioning after losing a close friend in an extreme terror incident

“…Experiencing a loss could lead to growth and maturity, but may also interfere with normal developmental tasks and impede function (Doka, 2000;Neimeyer, Laurie, Mehta, Hardison, & Currier, 2008 ). Young girls have a closer relationship with their friends than boys do, with higher levels of both intimacy and peer support (Coleman, 2011;De Goede, Branje, & Meeus, 2009;Malone, 2012;Markiewicz, Lawford, Doyle, & Haggart, 2006), predicting stronger grief reactions in girls.…”

A Comparison between the Same-Ethnicity and Cross-Ethnicity Friendship Quality of Adolescents in Viet Nam

“…Moreover, girls tend to be more supportive and focus on equality than boys. This is because they are generally two years ahead of boys in intellectual and social-cognitive functioning (De Goede et al, 2009). On the contrary, females are hypothesized to be more willing and tend to share more information on intimate topics with their best friends than their male counterparts.…”

“…For example, girls have more self-disclosure, empathy, interdependence, and need for nurturance in an intimate friendship, whereas boys normally search for companionship, competition, control, and conflict in larger friendship groups. Differences in how relationships are perceived or evaluated could result in differences in friendship quality, and males and females have different views of friendship (Bae, 2003;De Goede, Branje & Meeus, 2009;Rodebaugh, Fernandez & Levinson, 2012). Previous studies have indicated that there is a slightly significant difference in underlying construct of friendship quality between males and females.…”

“…In several important ways, the friendships of males and females are assumed to be different. It was demonstrated that the markedly gender differences in childhood peer relationships may extend into adulthood (De Goede et al, 2009). …”