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The friends they have and the friends they want: desired friendship across the transition into adolescence

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Date Issued:
2014
Summary:
Previous studies of desired friendship have assessed desired friends with unilateral nominations (when one child chooses another child as a friend, but that friend nomination is not reciprocated). This calls into question the validity of findings suggesting that children want to be friends with others who differ from themselves, but befriend similar others by default (Sijtsema, Lindenberg, & Veenstra, 2010). The current study concerns desired friendships among 195 girls and 147 boys in Grades 4 through 6. Two hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis was that children will not choose the same unilateral and desired friends. The second hypothesis was that children will be more similar to their reciprocal friends than to their unilateral and desired friends. Questionnaires measured desired friendship, friendship, and child characteristics. Both hypotheses were supported. However, there were group-level differences. The importance of using desired friend nominations to measure desired friends is discussed.
Title: The friends they have and the friends they want: desired friendship across the transition into adolescence.
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Name(s): Bortman, Gilly, author
Laursen, Brett, Thesis advisor
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Department of Psychology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: 2014
Date Issued: 2014
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 69 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Previous studies of desired friendship have assessed desired friends with unilateral nominations (when one child chooses another child as a friend, but that friend nomination is not reciprocated). This calls into question the validity of findings suggesting that children want to be friends with others who differ from themselves, but befriend similar others by default (Sijtsema, Lindenberg, & Veenstra, 2010). The current study concerns desired friendships among 195 girls and 147 boys in Grades 4 through 6. Two hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis was that children will not choose the same unilateral and desired friends. The second hypothesis was that children will be more similar to their reciprocal friends than to their unilateral and desired friends. Questionnaires measured desired friendship, friendship, and child characteristics. Both hypotheses were supported. However, there were group-level differences. The importance of using desired friend nominations to measure desired friends is discussed.
Identifier: FA00004180 (IID)
Degree granted: Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014.
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Includes bibliography.
Subject(s): Friendship -- Social aspects
Friendship in adolescence
Friendship in children
Interpersonal relations
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Sublocation: Digital Library
Links: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004180
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004180
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.