Self-disclosure in romantic relationships and friendships among American and Japanese college students.
The author examined whether the level of self-disclosure would differ across four types of relationships--passionate love relationships, companionate love relationships, same-sex friendships, and cross-sex friendships--and across cultures: American culture and Japanese culture. Participants were 145 college students (64 Americans and 81 Japanese). The results supported three hypotheses: (a) Japanese students scored lower in self-disclosure than American students, regardless of relationship types, (b) self-disclosure was higher in same-sex friendships than in cross-sex friendships both among American participants and among Japanese participants, and (c) self-disclosure was higher in romantic relationships than in friendships both among American students and among Japanese students. However, the correlation between self-disclosure and passionate love was not stronger than the correlation between self-disclosure and companionate love. The author discussed the present study's findings and contribution.
Kito
Mie
M
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico, USA. umkitom@cc.umanitoba.ca
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D013334:Students; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology