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Friendships are a primary source of social support during young adulthood; however, little is known about the factors associated with young adults feeling greater support during interactions with friends. We examined how micro-level verbal responses and macro-level judgments of friendship quality were associated with perceptions of support following an interaction between friends. Same-gender friend dyads (N = 132; 66.2% female; 18–24 years, M age = 19.63) took turns speaking about a problem, then participants rated their perceptions of support given and received following the task. We coded each participant's verbal responses while in the listening role. Actor Partner Interdependence Models (APIMs) revealed significant partner effects for negative engagement responses, such that greater negative engagement responses were linked with the partner perceiving poorer support both given and received. Models revealed significant actor effects for supportive responses, such that greater supportive responses predicted the actor perceiving better support both given and received. Additionally, models revealed significant actor effects of friendship quality predicting actors' perceiving better support both given and received. Finally, exploratory models revealed minimal interactions between a few types of verbal responses and positive friendship quality. Taken together, results suggest that (a) negative verbal responding styles may be more meaningfully associated with partners' perceptions of support in the moment than are supportive behaviours, whereas (b) supportive verbal responding styles may be more meaningfully associated with actors' perceptions of support in the moment, and (c) actors' judgments of friendship quality are strongly associated with their overall perceptions of support, and a critical factor to consider in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing a person-centered approach, the present study explored 614 adolescents' reports of self-disclosure, help, conflict, and conflict resolution with a close friend to investigate variability in profiles of friendship quality, whether gender and gender homophily and ethnicity homophily of friends are associated with profile membership, and how the profiles relate to feelings of school belonging. A latent profile analysis revealed three profiles of friendship: an ideal friendship profile (25.57% of the sample), a realistic friendship profile (54.56%), and a somewhat problematic friendship profile (19.87%). Compared to adolescents in the somewhat problematic profile, female adolescents were more likely to have a realistic or ideal friendship profile than males. Adolescents with ideal and realistic friendship profiles reported the highest feelings of school belonging; those in the somewhat problematic profile reported the lowest school belonging. The advantages of attending to profiles that incorporate multiple dimensions of friendship quality to understanding the social and academic experiences of adolescents are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine change in four features of best friendship quality (intimacy, companionship, reliable alliance and conflict) from age 19 to 30 by gender and investment in romantic life. To this end, 363 participants (58% women) were asked about the quality of the relationship with their best friend and their level of investment in romantic life at ages 19, 20, 21, 22, 25 and 30. Latent growth curve analysis revealed a slight increase in reliable alliance and companionship and a slight decrease in intimacy in the early 20s followed by a steeper drop for these three features (quadratic trajectories), while conflict declined linearly. Women reported higher levels of intimacy and companionship and less conflict than men did at 19 years old. Also, their intimacy diminished throughout their 20s, slightly at first but more strongly thereafter. For men, it was lower early on and remained stable afterwards. Finally, investment in romantic life at age 19 was associated with change in intimacy levels shared with their best friend. This study confirms that features of best friendship quality change differently from one another during emerging adulthood and demonstrates the influence of gender and investment in romantic life on these changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some adolescents may be more likely to be influenced by parents and peers in their development of externalizing behavior than others. Recent research indicates that sensory processing sensitivity may underlie such differences in sensitivity to environmental influences, and specifically that individuals with higher sensory processing sensitivity may be similarly highly reactive to both negative and positive social contexts. Data from a two-wave, two-year longitudinal questionnaire study with 177 adolescents (M age = 13.34 years, SD age = 1.05) were used to test the hypothesis that the associations between negative relationship quality with parents and best friend and later increased adolescents' externalizing behavior and between support from parents and best friend and later decreased adolescents' externalizing behavior would be stronger for adolescents with higher sensory processing sensitivity. Our hypothesis was partly confirmed, with results showing that a stronger negative relationship quality with best friend was only predictive of a subsequent increase in externalizing behavior for adolescents who scored higher on sensory processing sensitivity. More research is needed to investigate whether sensory processing sensitivity functions as a trait that is associated with increased sensitivity to environmental stimuli regardless of valence, especially in the context of negative and positive social exposures such as peer and parent environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of internet-connected devices in everyday life means that social interactions now frequently take place online. However, for socially vulnerable youth, it may be particularly important to examine distinctions between online and offline contexts of friendships. The current study sought to increase understanding of friendships in the digital era by exploring the associations of social anxiety and loneliness with frequency of interactions with friends, and in turn, friendship quality, as moderated by primary context of interaction with friends (online, offline, or equally online and offline). A sample of Australian young adults (N = 658; 59.8% female; M age = 19.41, SD = 2.04) who reported having friendships conducted across both online and offline contexts were included in the study. A serial mediation model tested the effects of social anxiety on perceptions of friendship quality, through loneliness and frequency of interacting with friends. The findings suggest that social vulnerabilities are negatively associated with friendship quality for young adults who primarily interact with friends offline or both online and offline. However, among those who primarily interact with friends online, social vulnerabilities are not significantly associated with friendship quality. These results provide insight into contemporary friendships and highlight how social vulnerabilities are associated with perceptions of friendship quality across online and offline settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research demonstrated the association between parent–adolescent relationship quality and deviant peer affiliation, but it is unclear whether this relation is mediated by other psychological and interpersonal variables, whether father– and mother–adolescent relationship quality have different pathways in predicting deviant peer affiliation, and whether gender moderates these associations. A sample of 543 students from grades 10 to 12 (42.7% male; age M = 16.2 years, SD = 1.0) was selected from a Chinese high school in Shenzhen, China. They provided demographic variables and completed self-report measures of father– and mother–adolescent relationship quality, self-control, friendship quality, and deviant peer affiliation. The results showed that lower father–adolescent relationship quality was associated with lower self-control, which in turn was associated with higher deviant peer affiliation. Mother–adolescent relationship quality did not have direct or indirect association with deviant peer affiliation. In addition, male and female adolescents had no significant difference in the associations between father– and mother–adolescent relationship quality, self-control, friendship quality, and deviant peer affiliation. Implications and limitations of these findings were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the development of children's self-reported positive (Companionship and Recreation, Validation and Caring, Help and Guidance, Intimate Disclosure, and Conflict Resolution) and negative (Conflict and Betrayal) friendship quality from the third to sixth grades using The National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development data (NICHD SECCYD; n = 1,364; M age = 9.03 years; 51.70% boys at recruitment). Consistent with expectations, growth models suggested that children reported higher positive, and lower negative, friendship quality with age. Boys had significantly lower positive friendship quality at third grade and slower increases than girls. Boys had slower decreases in negative friendship quality than girls. It is possible that different social orientations explain sex differences in friendship quality trajectories. Further research is needed to explore other factors that might account for individual differences in friendship quality trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing research studies and data, mostly focused on Western countries, suggest a dynamic relationship between coping with anger and psychological risk factors among children. Although there are cultural variations in anger coping, little attention has been directed among non-Western children. The present study examined the diverse influence of six anger coping styles on friendship quality and mental health among Chinese adolescents. Six competing anger coping strategies were tested as potential predictor variables: direct anger-out, assertion, social support-seeking, diffusion, avoidance, and rumination. Friendship quality was examined as a potential mediator. Mediation analyses were conducted using path analysis. The results indicated that friendship quality fully mediated the influence of social support-seeking on mental health problems, and partially mediated the influence of assertion on mental health problems. Furthermore, the direct anger-out and rumination coping styles directly and positively predicted mental health problems. These findings partially support the Simple Incidental Model suggesting that the influence of anger coping styles on mental health problems is complex, and friendship quality can mediate this influence. The present study points to a malleable target for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at increasing the favorable impact of anger coping strategies on psychological adjustment during the developmentally critical period of adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grandparents play a critical role in child-rearing both in the evolutionary history of human beings and in modern societies. The current study examined how grandparental involvement might contribute to young adults’ cognitive and social adjustment and whether grandchildren’s filial piety beliefs might moderate the impact of grandparental involvement. A total of 287 Hong Kong college students completed questionnaire measures of grandparental involvement, cognitive well-being, breadth and depth of friendships, and reciprocal and authoritarian filial piety beliefs. Results indicated that grandparental involvement was positively associated with young adults’ cognitive well-being and friendship quality even after controlling for parental influences, but only for young adults with strong filial piety beliefs. Moreover, reciprocal filial piety was a significant moderator for both cognitive well-being and friendship quality, whereas authoritarian filial piety only moderated the association between grandparental involvement and cognitive well-being. Findings highlighted the relevance of grandparental involvement in understanding youth development, and the importance of considering cultural values when investigating intergenerational interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transactive memory is a system for encoding, storing, and retrieving information between people, where each person has knowledge of the other’s memory. Through two studies, we assessed whether transactive memory occurs in best friendships (N = 682). Results showed that transactive memory systems (TMSs) do exist in best friendships. Importantly, stronger TMSs are associated with higher friendship quality (satisfaction and commitment), and their strength is related to different friendship characteristics (e.g., trust). A novel method for assessing TMS structure was developed. Mixed-gender friendships were associated with more differentiated structures (different knowledge), and friendships higher in inclusion of other in the self were associated with more integrated structures (similar knowledge). These studies have implications for the quality and operation of friendships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduced a 3 × 3 Coping—Support Interdependent Matrix for conceptualizing and investigating dyadic coping and support-giving among friends. By integrating attachment theory with the literatures on coping and support, we identified three prototypic patterns of coping (distance, utilize support, overwhelmed) and three prototypic patterns of support-giving (disengage, responsive, overinvolved). A sample of 113 pairs of college friends completed questionnaires assessing their own and their friend’s coping and support-giving patterns. An Actor—Partner Interdependence Model analysis revealed that utilize support coping was associated with friends’ responsive support-giving, overwhelmed coping was associated with overinvolved support-giving, and distance coping was associated with disengage support-giving. Coping and support patterns were found related in theoretically expected ways to ratings of friendship closeness and conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We examined the interplay between friends’ rejection sensitivity (RS) and attachment security in predicting friendship quality. Three competing hypotheses were tested concerning friendship quality, the unique effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and RS, as well as the moderating and mediating effects of RS. Results from emerging adults in Turkey (N = 407) revealed that unlike attachment anxiety and avoidance, RS had neither a unique nor a mediated effect on friendship quality. However, RS moderated the effect of attachment avoidance on friendship quality. These findings’ implications are discussed considering the role of RS in the link between attachment security and friendship quality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The current study examined three hypotheses about experience in close friendships and psychosocial adjustment. At Time 1, 51 same-sex close friend dyads (n = 102 friends, 51% female, mean age = 20 years) completed self-report measures and participated in a brief observational assessment. The hypothesis that friendship quality would be associated with clinical symptomatology and self-esteem was supported and indicated that high levels of negative friendship features were positively associated with clinical symptoms, whereas positive features were most strongly associated with self-esteem. The second hypothesis that changes in the friendship would be associated with adjustment one year later (68% participation rate at Time 2) was supported only for inter-personal sensitivity such that perceived negative changes in the relationship predicted increased symptoms. Finally, friends' perceptions of the features and quality of their relationship were somewhat consistent, yet as hypothesized, discordant perceptions predicted higher symptomatology and lower social support and satisfaction in the relationship. The results highlight the importance of considering both positive and negative aspects of friendship in early adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]