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=11.6years 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 6th to the 7th grade. 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.