title: Forms of Friendship: A Person-Centered Assessment of the Quality, Stability, and Outcomes of Different Types of Adolescent Friends.
abstract: Friendships differ in terms of their quality and participants may or may not agree as to their perceptions of relationship quality. Two studies (N= 230 and 242) were conducted to identify distinct and replicable categories of friendship among young adolescents (M= 11.6 years old) using self and partner reports of relationship quality. Same-sex friendships were identified from reciprocated friend nominations. Each friend described perceptions of negativity and social support in the relationship. Cluster analyses based on reports from both friends yielded 4 friendship types in each study: a high quality group, a low quality group, and two groups in which friends disagreed about the quality of the relationship. High quality friendships were most apt to be stable from the 6thto the 7thgrade. Participants in high quality friendships reported the highest levels of global self-worth and perceived behavioral conduct and the lowest levels of problem behaviors. Dyads reporting discrepant perceptions of quality differed from dyads who agreed that the friendship was high quality in terms of stability and individual adjustment, underscoring the advantages of person-centered strategies that incorporate perceptions of both partners in categorizations of relationships.
authors.affiliation: Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, 3200 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale FL 33314, USA.
authors.forename: Cody
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hiatt
authors.affiliation: Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, 3200 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale FL 33314, USA.
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laursen
authors.affiliation: State University of New York at Geneseo, Department of Psychology, SUNY Geneseo, 1 College Circle, Geneseo, NY 14454, USA.
authors.forename: Karen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Mooney
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, Department of Human Development & Quantitative Methodology, 3304 Benjamin Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Rubin
keywords: Friend; Friendship Quality; Friendship Stability; Problem Behaviors