Submission Type
Poster
Abstract
Friendships that are high in positive features and low in negative features are considered the highest quality friendships. Adolescents who have high-quality friendships report fewer internalizing and externalizing problems than adolescents with low-quality friendships (Buhrmester, 1990). Most research focuses on one aspect of friendship quality at a time (e.g., positivity with behavior problems, negativity with behavior problems) instead of the overall quality of the friendship. Moreover, not all low quality friendships are alike, and they may be associated with adjustment in different ways. Same-sex friendships are typically higher in positivity than other-sex friendships (Hand & Furman, 2009), but little is known about how other-sex friendships vary in quality or how that quality is associated with adjustment. The present study examines this with college students. We used cluster analysis to group the students into six profiles based on their reports of positivity and negativity with their closest other-sex friend. Students who had high-quality other-sex friendships tended to have fewer behavior problems. The other profiles varied in their associations with behavior problems.
Recommended Citation
Brazell, Devin, "063-Patterns in the Quality of Other-Sex Friendships: Associations with Adjustment" (2024). GREAT Day Posters. 17.
https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/great-day-symposium/great-day-2024/posters-2024/17
063-Patterns in the Quality of Other-Sex Friendships: Associations with Adjustment
Friendships that are high in positive features and low in negative features are considered the highest quality friendships. Adolescents who have high-quality friendships report fewer internalizing and externalizing problems than adolescents with low-quality friendships (Buhrmester, 1990). Most research focuses on one aspect of friendship quality at a time (e.g., positivity with behavior problems, negativity with behavior problems) instead of the overall quality of the friendship. Moreover, not all low quality friendships are alike, and they may be associated with adjustment in different ways. Same-sex friendships are typically higher in positivity than other-sex friendships (Hand & Furman, 2009), but little is known about how other-sex friendships vary in quality or how that quality is associated with adjustment. The present study examines this with college students. We used cluster analysis to group the students into six profiles based on their reports of positivity and negativity with their closest other-sex friend. Students who had high-quality other-sex friendships tended to have fewer behavior problems. The other profiles varied in their associations with behavior problems.