Behavioural Correlates of Friendship Status among Italian Schoolchildren

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine whether friendship status, in terms of reciprocity and perceived quality of the relationship, is related to behavioural characteristics of school-aged children, as evaluated by themselves and their teachers. Children's nominations for `best friends', a questionnaire on children's perception of friendship quality and self-evaluation of social behaviour were administered to middle-class Italian primary school children, aged 9-10 years. Teachers' ratings of each pupil's social behaviour were also obtained. Partners in reciprocal friendships (both boys and girls) estimated their own prosocial behaviour higher than children who did not have any reciprocal friends in their classes. Higher scores for perceived friendship quality were positively related with higher scores on self-perceptions of prosocial behaviour. Furthermore, the teachers' ratings depict children with reciprocal friends as more prosocial, less aggressive and less emotionally unstable than others.