Friendship and adjustment: a focus on mixed-grade friendships.
Research on friendship and adjustment has traditionally focused on same-sex, same-grade, and same-school peers. Recent evidence, however, suggests that many adolescents have other-sex and other-school friends that significantly impact their adjustment. The purpose of this study was to examine young adolescents' experiences with mixed-grade friendships (friendships between adolescents in the same school but of different grades), a type of friendship about which little is known. Participants were 179 seventh grade and 178 eighth grade students (55 percent female; M age = 13.2 years, SD = .68) who reported on their same-grade and mixed-grade friendships and loneliness. Peer nominations of same-grade aggression, anxious-withdrawal, victimization and rejection were also collected. Descriptive analyses revealed that 83 percent of students reported having a mixed-grade friend, 36 percent of these friendships being mutual. Adolescents who made mixed-grade nominations and who had mutual mixed-grade friendships reported less loneliness than other adolescents. Results also suggested that mixed-grade friends may protect same-grade friendless girls from feelings of loneliness, and eighth grade same-grade friendless adolescents and anxious-withdrawn boys from victimization. Taken together, findings strongly suggest that mixed-grade friendships are developmentally significant peer relationships during early adolescence.
Bowker
Julie C
JC
Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA. jcbowker@buffalo.edu
Spencer
Sarah V
SV
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000367:Age Factors; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*