The Interplay Between Adolescents' Friendships and the Exchange of Help: A Longitudinal Multiplex Social Network Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to unravel the interrelatedness of friendship and help, and to examine the characteristics of friendship and help networks. The effects of mutual versus one‐sided help relations on friendship initiation and maintenance, and vice versa, were examined. Friendship and help networks were analyzed (N = 953 students; 41 classrooms; Mage = 12.7). The results illustrate that friendship and help networks show some similarities, but only partly overlap and have distinct characteristics. Longitudinal multiplex social network analyses showed that mutual help was important for the maintenance of friendship, but not for the initiation of friendship. Further, particularly mutual friendships provided a context in which help took place. Implications of these findings are discussed.

The Developmental Process of Peer Support Networks: The Role of Friendship

“…Researchers can then improve peer support networks by affecting local structures, as these local structures may also influent the development of peer support networks. For example, van Rijsewijk et al (2020) explored help networks and found that reciprocity can affect the formation of helping ties, showing that adolescents are likely to obtain help from each other. Some researchers studied other networks and found other important local structures in the development of networks, such as “transitive reciprocated triplets” for friendship networks ( Rambaran et al, 2019 ).…”

“…For example, Rambaran et al (2015) found that the formation and maintenance of antipathic ties are affected by multi-person friendships in school groups by exploring relationships between friendship networks and antipathy networks. van Rijsewijk et al (2020) recently investigated the interplay between adolescents’ friendships and the exchange of help and identified the contribution of dyadic friendships to the formation of help relationships. Unknown, however, are the effects of multi-person friendships on the development of peer support networks.…”

“…Previous studies showed that reciprocity and transitivity are important features of the dynamic process of social support ( Isherwood et al, 2016 ; van Rijsewijk et al, 2020 ). Reciprocity means that two members of a social network both receive support from each other and provide support to each other ( Jung, 1990 ; Isherwood et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Peer support networks provide a way to investigate peer support ecologically and systematically and have some unique attributes in peer support research. A peer support network comprises members of a peer group and support relationships among members ( Lee et al, 2016 ; van Rijsewijk et al, 2020 ). In the network, people seek, receive, and provide peer support through these relationships ( Barbee and Cunningham, 1995 ).…”

“…First, researchers can explore interactions between support seekers and support providers and the role of dyadic relationships on peer support networks. For example, a previous study explored the formation of the received support relationship between two students and the role of friendship and sex among students in peer support networks ( van Rijsewijk et al, 2020 ). This implies that seekers, providers, and their relationships can be studied as a system instead of exploring support relationships only from the seeker’s or provider’s perspective.…”