Your search found 19 results.

Descriptors:
Gender Differences; Disclosure; Friendship; Children; Adolescents; Psychological Patterns; Interpersonal Relationship

Abstract:
Although girls disclose to friends about problems more than boys, little is known about processes underlying this sex difference. Four studies (Ns = 526, 567, 769, 154) tested whether middle childhood to mid-adolescent girls and boys (ranging from 8 to 17 years old) differ in how they expect that talking about problems would make them feel. Girls endorsed positive expectations (e.g., expecting to feel cared for, understood) more strongly than boys. Despite common perceptions, boys did not endorse negative expectations such as feeling embarrassed or worried about being made fun of more than girls. Instead, boys were more likely than girls to expect to feel "weird" and like they were wasting time. Sex differences in outcome expectations did help to account for girls' greater disclosure to friends. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Intimacy; Correlation; Interpersonal Relationship; Sexuality; Grade 5; Grade 8; Grade 11; Student Attitudes; Instructional Program Divisions; Leisure Time; Elementary School Students; Secondary School Students

Abstract:
Whereas much research addresses relations of youths' heterosexual romantic relationships with sexual and/or delinquent activities, less attention has been paid to youths' more normative, day-to-day activities with romantic partners. This gap in the literature is problematic given that these activities define the substance of the relationships and likely are connected to relationship satisfaction. In the current study, 223 youths in fifth (28 boys; 32 girls), eighth (31 boys; 40 girls), and eleventh (36 boys; 56 girls) grades reporting current romantic relationships indicated their engagement in activities with romantic partners and relationship satisfaction. Findings revealed important grade differences in activity involvement, with eighth- and eleventh-graders reporting higher engagement than fifth-graders, especially in out-of-school activities. Additionally, engagement in out-of-school activities was most strongly associated with relationship satisfaction for all grades. (Contains 3 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Friendship; Depression (Psychology); Anxiety; Individual Development; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Intervention; Prediction; Grade 3; Grade 4; Grade 9; Psychology

Abstract:
Youth's friendships serve important functions in development; however, internalizing symptoms may undermine these relationships. Two studies are presented that examine the association of depressive and anxiety symptoms with friendship adjustment. Study 1 tested concurrent effects and Study 2 tested prospective effects over 6 months. Like past studies, depressive symptoms predicted greater problems in friendships. However, anxiety symptoms generally did not and, in some cases, actually predicted positive friendship adjustment. The results suggest that the friendships of youth with depressive symptoms should be targeted for intervention, but that incorporating the friendship strengths of anxious youth in interventions could be helpful for reducing these youth's anxiety. The results also caution researchers studying the interplay between friendships and internalizing symptoms against collapsing across assessments of depressive and anxiety symptoms. (Contains 3 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Caring; Females; Perspective Taking; Friendship; Correlation; Costs; Cognitive Ability; Empathy; Social Cognition; Emotional Disturbances; Beliefs; Stress Variables; Gender Differences; Early Adolescents; Prediction

Abstract:
The current research considered the costs of caring in youths' friendships. The development of a new construct, empathetic distress, allowed for a direct test of the commonly held belief that females suffer greater vicarious distress in response to close others' stressors and problems than do males. Empathetic distress refers to one's strongly sharing a relationship partner's distress over problems to the point of taking on the partner's distress and experiencing it as one's own. This new construct was examined in an ethnically diverse sample of early adolescents who responded to a series of questionnaires in their classrooms. Results indicated that girls did experience greater empathetic distress in friendships than did boys. In addition, the current research revealed that social perspective taking in friendships (i.e., the social-cognitive ability to infer and understand the friend's perspective) had adjustment trade-offs in that it predicted greater positive friendship quality but also greater empathetic distress in the friendship. Interestingly, the associations of social perspective taking with both positive friendship quality and empathetic distress were partially mediated by co-rumination or excessive discussion of problems. Applied implications of the findings that girls' greater social perspective taking and associated co-rumination contributed both to their greater positive friendship quality but also to greater costs of caring in the form of empathetic distress are discussed. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Friendship; Correlation; Interpersonal Competence; Children; Adolescents; Vignettes; Stress Variables; Prediction; Social Adjustment; Interpersonal Relationship; Skill Development

Abstract:
The proposal that friendships provide a context for the development of social skills is widely accepted. Yet little research exists to support this claim. In the present study, children and adolescents (N = 912) were presented with vignettes in which a friend encountered a social stressor and they could help the friend and vignettes in which they encountered a stressor and could seek help from the friend. Social strategies in response to these vignettes were assessed in the fall and spring of the school year. Different indicators of friendship adjustment had unique effects on youths' strategies in response to helping tasks. Whereas having more friends predicted decreases in avoidant or hostile strategies, having high-quality friendships predicted emotionally engaged strategies that involved talking about the problem. Moreover, whereas having more friends predicted "increases" in relatively disengaged strategies, like distraction and acting like the problem never happened, having high-quality friendships predicted "decreases" in these strategies. The present study also tested whether youths' strategies in the fall predicted changes in friendship adjustment by the spring. Only strategies which may be seen as major friendship transgressions (i.e., avoiding or blaming the friend when the friend encounters a problem) predicted changes in friendship over time. Collectively, these results provide important new information on the interplay between social competencies and friendship experiences and suggest that friendships may provide a critical venue for the development of important relationship skills. (Contains 6 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Mothers; Daughters; Parent Child Relationship; Depression (Psychology); Self Disclosure (Individuals); Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Sons; Anxiety; Well Being; Correlation

Abstract:
The current study examined co-rumination (i.e., extensively discussing, rehashing, and speculating about problems) in the context of mother-adolescent relationships. Fifth-, eighth-, and eleventh-graders (N = 516) reported on co-rumination and more normative self-disclosure with mothers, their relationships with mothers, and their own internalizing symptoms. A subset of mothers (N = 200) reported on mother-adolescent co-rumination and self-disclosure. Results from the adolescent-report data indicated greater mother-adolescent co-rumination with daughters than sons and also adjustment trade-offs of mother-adolescent co-rumination. Mother-adolescent co-rumination was related to positive relationship quality but also to enmeshment in the relationship. Whereas the relation with positive relationship quality appeared to be due in part to normative self-disclosure, the relation with enmeshment was unique to co-rumination. Mother-adolescent co-rumination also was related to youth anxiety/depression. The relations with enmeshment and internalizing symptoms were strongest when co-rumination focused on the mothers' problems. Implications of mother-adolescent co-rumination for promoting appropriate relationship boundaries and youth well-being are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Aggression; Females; Peer Acceptance; Gender Differences; Social Development; Adolescents; Prediction

Abstract:
Research on relational aggression has drawn attention to how girls may be likely to aggress, but the role of gender is not fully understood. There are opposing views regarding whether relational aggression is most common among girls. Current findings demonstrate that when gender differences in relational aggression are assessed with peer nominations, gender differences favoring girls are more likely: (1) in adolescence than childhood; and (2) when statistical overlap with overt aggression is controlled. Results also indicated that associations of relational aggression with peer acceptance depend on the aggressor's gender, the peer rater's gender, and whether overlap with overt aggression is controlled. Associations of relational aggression with lower acceptance became non-significant when overt aggression was controlled, suggesting that relational aggression displayed in isolation may not damage acceptance. In fact, in mid-adolescence, girls' relational aggression predicted "greater" liking by boys. Reducing relational aggression among adolescent girls may be especially challenging if the behavior is linked with acceptance by boys. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Prevention; Friendship; Adolescents; Behavior Problems; Social Adjustment; Gender Differences; Instructional Program Divisions; Self Disclosure (Individuals); Role; Grade 5; Grade 8; Grade 11; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Interpersonal Relationship; Knowledge Level

Abstract:
Some evidence suggests that close friends may be knowledgeable of youth's psychological adjustment. However, friends are understudied as reporters of adjustment. The current study examines associations between self- and friend-reports of internalizing and externalizing adjustment in a community sample of fifth-, eighth-, and eleventh-grade youth. The study extends prior work by considering the degree to which friends' reports of youth adjustment are "accurate" (i.e., predicted by youths' actual adjustment) versus "biased" (i.e., predicted by the friend reporters' own adjustment). Findings indicated stronger bias effects than accuracy effects, but the accuracy effects were significant for both internalizing and externalizing adjustment. Additionally, friends who perceived their relationships as high in positive quality, friends in relationships high in disclosure, and girls perceived youths' internalizing symptoms most accurately. Knowledge of externalizing adjustment was not influenced by gender, grade, relationship quality, or self-disclosure. Findings suggest that friends could play an important role in prevention efforts. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Aggression; Adolescents; Emotional Adjustment; Peer Acceptance; Grade 7; Grade 9; Middle School Students; High School Students

Abstract:
Aggression is associated with a host of behavioral, social, and emotional adjustment difficulties. However, some aggressive youth are perceived as "popular" by peers. Although these perceived popular aggressive youth appear relatively well adjusted, especially in the social domain, the emotional well-being of these youth is understudied. The current findings indicate that perceived popularity buffers adolescents who hurt others through relational aggression from internalizing symptoms. In contrast, perceived popularity did not buffer adolescents who engaged in overt verbal and physical aggression from internalizing symptoms. The results suggest that relationally aggressive perceived popular adolescents may be especially resistant to intervention if their aggression helps them manipulate their social worlds but does not contribute to internalizing symptoms. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Males; Friendship; Gender Differences; Females; Peer Relationship; Goal Orientation; Social Cognition; Incidence; Self Disclosure (Individuals); Prompting; Motivation; Interpersonal Communication; Problems

Abstract:
Girls' and boys' peer relationships are thought to have unique strengths and weaknesses. However, developmentalists have done a better job of identifying strengths of girls' friendships than boys' friendships. The present research was aimed at better understanding boys' friendship strengths. The study focused on the frequency with which youth (N = 514) reported that they would prompt a friend to talk about problems. It was hypothesized that boys would be more likely than girls to refrain from prompting friends to talk about problems due to prosocial motivations (e.g., not wanting to embarrass the friend; wanting to distract the friend). However, contrary to predictions, girls' motivations were more prosocial and less selfish than were boys' motivations. Moreover, a similar relation was found for boys and girls between their likelihood of prompting a friend to talk about problems and their friends' reports of emotional connection. Implications for research aimed at uncovering boys' friendship strengths are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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