Reciprocal Friendships Research Articles

Friendships among young children: links with social behaviour

ABSTRACT Children's relationships with their peers have important associations with their behaviour. The current study examined children's friendships during the formative school years and hypotheses were made regarding associations between how well-liked children were by peers, the reciprocity of these friendships, and with whom friendships were made. Children aged 4–7 years (N = 193) were asked to identify who their friends were. Teachers and teaching assistants provided ratings of children’s behaviour; aggressive, victimized, prosocial and solitary. Results indicated differences in the number of friendship nominations children received from peers in relation to their behaviours. Reciprocity in children's friendships was also differentially associated with child behaviour. Further, there was some evidence for homophily in the behaviour of children and their friends. The findings are discussed in relation to the importance of supporting children's good quality friendship relationships.

Are you fun, funny and laughing? The friendships and social relationships of students with complex communication needs in and outside of special school settings

AbstractFriendships and social relationships are central to wellbeing but the friendships of those with complex needs are often ignored. This study explored the friendships and social relationships of students with complex communication needs (CCN) in and outside of special school settings, to understand how they view and experience them. There were 20 participants—6 students, 8 of their parents and 6 of their teachers. The research was conducted in two stages: Stage 1 included semi‐structured interviews with adults and unstructured observations of students in class and at breaktimes. Stage 2 included working with students through a Mosaic approach, using six tools (pyramid ranking activity, preferred activity with friends cards, best friends activity, school tours, collections from home and book‐making). Transcripts of recordings were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The four themes generated highlight how students with CCN have more accurate views of their social lives than adults, students and adults have differing views about what makes a good friend, students with CCN find ways to enact meaningful social contact through a connection beyond words, and reciprocity in friendships means no distinction between ‘helper’ and ‘needing help’. Strengths and limitations are highlighted and implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Peer perspectives on friendships among peers with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities: A pilot mixed methods study.

The benefits of friendships among peers with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities are well supported by research. However, little is known about the nature of these inclusive friendships in inclusive college courses. We explored the perspectives of peers on the development of authentic friendships among peers with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities in inclusive college courses in the United States. We used a sequential, explanatory, transformative mixed methods-grounded theory research design. We integrated quantitative (N = 44) and qualitative (N = 8) findings using blended analysis to inform a preliminary grounded theory of inclusive and reciprocal friendships. Quantitative findings suggest two relationships and one predictor of peers' perceived social engagement. Qualitative findings resulted in five themes that promote friendships. We propose that the context for developing inclusive friendships could be fostered using the preparation and actions stages of the grounded theory model.

Academic achievement, same- and cross-ethnic positive peer regard among Asian American and Latinx adolescents.

This article presents a short-term longitudinal study examining bidirectional associations between academic achievement and positive peer regard among Asian American and Latinx adolescents. Specifically, our investigation distinguished between positive peer regard within and across different ethnic groups in a diverse school setting. Three hundred and thirty-five middle school students (52.8% girls; 65% Asian American, 35% Latinx; assessment at the first time point Mage = 12.27 years, SD = 0.71) were followed across two consecutive school years. Participants completed a peer-nomination inventory assessing multiple dimensions of positive peer regard (i.e., reciprocal friendship, social acceptance, and respect), and grades were obtained from school records. Academic achievement was predictive of prospective positive peer regard received from same-ethnic peers only for Asian American adolescents. In contrast, academic achievement predicted prospective positive peer regard received from cross-ethnic peers only for Latinx adolescents. These results suggest that academic achievement was linked to social gains with peers from different ethnic backgrounds for Asian American and Latinx students. The findings underscore the importance of disentangling the sources of positive peer regard in multiethnic school environments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Do Minorities’ Friendships with Majority Culture Members and Their Emotional Fit with Majority Culture Influence Each Other Over Time?

Immigrant-origin minorities who have majority friends have emotions that fit the majority norm. However, previous research on the link between minorities’ emotional fit and their friendships with majority culture members has been cross-sectional. Hence, little is known about the directionality of the association and whether emotional fit facilitates minority inclusion. In a longitudinal study of 3216 minority and 2283 majority youth, we tested bidirectional associations between emotional fit and majority friendships over time. Emotional fit was calculated by relating minorities’ emotional patterns to the average pattern of the majority sample in comparable situations. Majority friendships were measured as reciprocal friendship nominations in classrooms and self-report. Cross-lagged panel models offered partial support for the hypotheses using friendship nomination data, and full support using self-reported data. The findings suggest that minorities’ fit with the majority culture increases when they have majority friends and that emotional fit is a promising route for inclusion.

Social relationship provisions and loneliness in school: Child- and classroom-level effects

Building on social needs theory (Weiss, 1974), this study introduces the construct of classroom provision richness and examines the association between the exchange of social provisions among children in classrooms and children's feelings of loneliness in school. We examined the receipt of provisions from reciprocally nominated friends versus unilateral (one-sided) and non-friend classmates and examined associations between social provisions and loneliness at the child and classroom levels. Participants were 998 third- through fifth-grade children (468 girls, 530 boys; 88.5% White) in 38 classrooms who indicated which classmates they played with, helped, validated, and provided opportunities for self-disclosure. In addition to the social provisions nomination measure, children responded to (a) a measure of loneliness that avoided content overlapping with social provisions, (b) a rating-scale sociometric measure of peer acceptance, and (c) a measure that asked them to indicate which classmates engaged in prosocial, aggressive, or withdrawn-type behaviors. Multilevel analyses indicated that social provisions received from reciprocal friends and from unilateral–received friends were associated with children's feelings of loneliness in school. Furthermore, a measure of the provision richness of classrooms moderated the association between child-level provisions received and feelings of loneliness, such that children who received fewer provisions were less lonely in classrooms that were more provision-rich. Classroom provision richness was also associated with the general level of prosocial behavior and peer acceptance in the classroom. Together, findings suggest that efforts to foster the exchange of social provisions in classrooms could reduce loneliness and facilitate a more caring classroom environment.

Brain Activities Show There Is Nothing Like a Real Friend in Contrast to Influencers and Other Celebrities.

Especially for young people, influencers and other celebrities followed on social media evoke affective closeness that in their young minds seems real even though it is fake. Such fake friendships are potentially problematic because of their felt reality on the consumer side while lacking any inversely felt true closeness. The question arises if the unilateral friendship of a social media user is equal or at least similar to real reciprocal friendship. Instead of asking social media users for explicit responses (conscious deliberation), the present exploratory study aimed to answer this question with the help of brain imaging technology. Thirty young participants were first invited to provide individual lists including (i) twenty names of their most followed and loved influencers or other celebrities (fake friend names), (ii) twenty names of loved real friends and relatives (real friend names) as well as (iii) twenty names they do not feel any closeness to (no friend names). They then came to the Freud CanBeLab (Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience and Behavior Lab) where they were shown their selected names in a random sequence (two rounds), while their brain activities were recorded via electroencephalography (EEG) and later calculated into event-related potentials (ERPs). We found short (ca. 100 ms) left frontal brain activity starting at around 250 ms post-stimulus to process real friend and no friend names similarly, while both ERPs differed from those elicited by fake friend names. This is followed by a longer effect (ca. 400 ms), where left and right frontal and temporoparietal ERPs also differed between fake and real friend names, but at this later processing stage, no friend names elicited similar brain activities to fake friend names in those regions. In general, real friend names elicited the most negative going brain potentials (interpreted as highest brain activation levels). These exploratory findings represent objective empirical evidence that the human brain clearly distinguishes between influencers or other celebrities and close people out of real life even though subjective feelings of closeness and trust can be similar. In summary, brain imaging shows there is nothing like a real friend. The findings of this study might be seen as a starting point for future studies using ERPs to investigate social media impact and topics such as fake friendship.

Sex differences in friendships and loneliness in autistic and non-autistic children across development

BackgroundAutistic children have been shown to have less complete definitions of friendships and higher levels of loneliness than their non-autistic peers. However, no known studies have explored sex differences in autistic children’s understanding of friendships and reported loneliness across development. Autistic girls demonstrate higher levels of social motivation than autistic boys and appear to “fit in” with their peers, but they often have difficulty recognizing reciprocal friendships during middle childhood. As autistic girls develop a more complex understanding of friendship during adolescence, they may begin to redefine their friendships and experience heightened loneliness. Here, we explored how autistic and non-autistic boys and girls define the meaning of friendship and report feelings of loneliness across development. We also examined their perceptions of friendships and loneliness.MethodsThis mixed-methods study analyzed the transcribed clinical evaluations of 58 autistic children (29 girls) matched to 42 non-autistic children (21 girls) on age and IQ. Transcripts were coded for four categories that children used to define friendships—personality, companionship, dependability, and intimacy—and for reported loneliness. We then compared these codes across diagnosis, sex, and age. Content analyses were further implemented to gain a more holistic understanding of children’s perceptions of friendships and loneliness.ResultsGirls, regardless of diagnosis, were more likely than boys to refer to personality when defining the meaning of friendship, and the likelihood of referring to dependability and intimacy increased with age. Most children reported having at least one friend, though some autistic adolescents reported not having friends or were uncertain whether they had friends. While autistic and non-autistic boys and girls were equally likely to report feeling lonely at times, several autistic girls and boys reported being frequently lonely.LimitationsThis study was a secondary data analysis. The standardized set of questions on the ADOS limited the amount of information that children provided about their friendships and perceptions of loneliness.ConclusionAs with non-autistic children, autistic children acquire a more complex understanding of friendship throughout development. However, as children begin to prioritize dependability and intimacy in friendships, autistic adolescents may have difficulty developing friendships characterized by these constructs. Furthermore, the quantity and/or quality of autistic children’s friendships may not be sufficient to alleviate loneliness.

Children with language disorder as friends: Interviews with classroom peers to gather their perspectives

Language disorder (LD) is a common childhood condition affecting language development, which can in turn impact children's peer relationships. Although most children with LD are included in mainstream classrooms, there is limited knowledge about the way friendships support or hinder the learning experiences of children with LD in inclusive settings. Typically developing (TD) peers’ views tend to get overlooked when considering inclusion but they need to be heard as they too adapt to inclusive classrooms. In this small-scale study, we explored the perspectives of peers on their friendship quality with children with LD. We conducted friendship interviews with classroom friends (n = 9) of 6–8-year-old children with LD (n = 9), who attended the enhanced provision and mainstream classrooms in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. We used sociometric nomination methods to identify the reciprocal friends of children with LD. We then interviewed these friends using art-based methods and analysed our interview data using thematic framework. Friends of children with LD attending the enhanced provision showed an inclusive mindset and revealed their own strategies for overcoming potential communication barriers. In contrast, friends in full-time mainstream classrooms did not report experiencing communication difficulties when interacting with a peer with LD. We conclude that educational practice should build on those inclusion strategies that children find natural and consider the importance of teaching all children about adjustments that can support inclusion of those with communication difficulties.

Language skills and friendships in kindergarten classrooms: A social network analysis.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent that language skills contribute to kindergarten children's classroom-based friendship networks. We assessed language skills and collected friendship data via individual interviews of 419 children from 21 kindergarten classrooms. Using social network analysis, we found that language skills were significantly associated with friendship centrality and reciprocity after controlling for classroom and child-level factors. Children classified as at risk for specific language impairment (SLI) were significantly less central to friendship networks, and the odds of a reciprocal friendship tie were more than 50% lower compared to children who were not classified as at risk. Of children at risk, girls were significantly more central than boys. We couch our results within limitations of our study and provide recommendations for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal development of children's sharing behaviour: Only children versus children with siblings from rural China.

This study examined the development of children's sharing behaviour towards friends and strangers using dictator games with a longitudinal design in a sample of rural Chinese children (n = 589, 47.0% girls) at 3-4years old and 2 years later (n = 453, 44.2% girls). Results showed that the willingness to share and the amount of sharing changed over time and were affected by family structure. Only children shared fewer stickers than non-only children at ages 3-4, but the amount they shared did not differ at ages 5-6. Only children may develop reciprocal friendships at an older age due to their lack of experience with siblings. Children shared more stickers with friends than strangers at ages 3-4, and such ingroup bias became stronger at ages 5-6.

Performance- and Theater-Based Interventions for Supporting Social Cognition and Social Communication in Autistic Youth: A Review and Theoretical Synthesis.

Social skills interventions (SSIs) are commonly used to improve social functioning in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is a condition characterized by differences in social cognition and social communication. Although more traditional SSIs have used knowledge-based, didactic instruction, recent research has explored the utility of performance-based SSIs, which use various activities to support implicit learning of social skills in supportive, enriched environments. This article reviews the extant literature evaluating the effectiveness or efficacy of five performance-based SSIs using theater-based approaches on social cognition and social communication. Overall, this body of literature suggests social communication gains that include increased peer interactions, peer liking, and reciprocal friendships, as well as social cognitive gains in theory of mind and affect recognition. This review also discusses theoretical models that may help explain the emerging strengths of performance- and theater-based SSIs with underlying hypotheses related to the social communication and social cognitive differences in ASD. Limitations of performance-based SSIs in the evidence-base include several approaches in initial stages of research with small sample sizes and limited maintenance of effects. Future research should aim to bridge the research-to-practice gap and use more rigorous designs and more diverse samples, including those with cooccurring intellectual disability.

Influence of Child Externalizing Behavior on Friendship Centrality and Reciprocity in Kindergarten Classrooms

In this study, we examine friendship centrality and reciprocity between kindergarteners who exhibit externalizing classroom behaviors and their classroom peers. Teachers nominated children who display externalizing classroom behaviors, and we collected network data via individual interviews of 411 children (mean age = 6.7 years; SD = .33) from 21 kindergarten classrooms in four U.S. schools. We found that children nominated for elevated levels of externalizing behavior were significantly less central to the classroom friendship network (over and above the contribution of language skills), and this effect was magnified for boys and students in larger classrooms. Moderator analyses revealed a significant gender by behavior interaction, where the difference between boys and girls was conditional on externalizing behavior nomination. Similar main effect results were found when predicting whether or not students had a reciprocal friendship tie. Students who received a teacher nomination for externalizing behavior had 48% lower odds of having a reciprocal friendship tie, after controlling for language skills. We found no significant moderators of the behavior–reciprocity relation. We conclude our study with a discussion of our findings and recommendations for future research and practice.

Parent-Assisted Social Skills Training for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: PEERS for Preschoolers

The establishment of reciprocal friendships is a challenge for many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Social interaction difficulties emerge early, persist throughout development, and have widespread functional impact. As such, interventions focused on social functioning are needed in early intervention programs. This two-part study evaluated the outcomes of a parent-assisted social skills training (SST) program for young children with ASD. The intervention is a downward extension of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS(R)), which is one of the few evidence-based SST programs for adolescents and young adults with ASD. Modifications included developmentally appropriate social skills, greater parent involvement, and behavioral strategies embedded in play-based activities. Results reveal improvements in parent ratings of social responsiveness, social cognition, and social motivation, as well as decreased (a) restricted/repetitive behaviors and interests and (b) problem behaviors. Results are promising and encourage further evaluation of this SST curriculum.

Disabling violence: intellectual disability and the limits of ethical engagement

AbstractThose giving care to people with intellectual disabilities in the United Kingdom are obliged to drive bad forms of intimacy, such as abuse, out of the caring relationship. They must also enable these individuals to find positive forms of intimacy through reciprocal relationships such as friendships. These two aims are normally separated, but in an organization called L'Arche UK, they are combined in the same relationship when caregivers pursue reciprocal friendships with those they support. What happens to this ethical project when those with intellectual disabilities are violent to their caregivers? Trying to pursue intimate engagement in this context has the unexpected result of creating distrustful and tense relationships, which raises questions not only about why this ethical project goes so wrong, but also about what it would mean for it to go right: that is, what a richer and fully positive reciprocity between limited and complex human beings would actually look like in practice.

GraphRR: A multiplex Graph based Reciprocal friend Recommender system with applications on online gaming service

Reciprocal Recommender Systems (RRSs) are recommender systems specifically designed for people-to-people recommendation tasks, e.g., online gaming, dating, and recruitment services. They are fundamentally different from the conventional user–item recommendations. In RRSs, user interactions are usually directional, i.e., they are initiated by one side and not necessarily reciprocated by the other side. In the meanwhile, abundant multiplex user interactions, e.g., Friend Request and Send Message, are collated by the online services and can be represented into a large-scale multiplex user interaction graph. Despite the substantial progress of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) on capturing users’ multiplex interactions, naive GNNs are insufficient to capture the additional information implied from the directions of interactions, as they are usually not designed to preserve the asymmetric proximities between users.In the paper, we present a novel Graph neural network for Reciprocal Recommendation (GraphRR) to utilize the multiplex user interactions. Specifically, three ego graphs are augmented based on the directions of interactions for each user to capture his preference, attraction and similarity in a finer granularity. Then the multiplexity-aware GNN modules are further applied to measure the contributions of different interaction types. Extensive experiments are conducted in the datasets of the real-world large-scale online games from NetEase Games, a leading game provider for worldwide users. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of GraphRR over baseline methods and provide empirical evidence for the benefits of the proposed ego graph augmentation. The source code is also available online for reproductivity11https://github.com/changym3/GraphRR..

Strategies for Maintaining Friendship in Dementia.

Although friendship is vital in later life, particularly amongst people who are living with dementia, little is known about how friendships are sustained following a diagnosis. Some research suggests that, because of dementia-related stigma, friendships dissolve following diagnosis; however, other researchers have shown that friendships can persist in dementia. The purpose of this article is to explore strategies that people with dementia and their friends (i.e., those who have been friends for at least 2 years) utilize to sustain their friendships. Following a constructivist approach, we interviewed people living with dementia, friends, and family members to better understand how friendships are maintained after a diagnosis of dementia. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. An overarching theme, adapting to change, was generated. Participants adapted in several ways, including: (1) prioritizing friendship, (2) shifting ways of thinking about our friend/ship, and (3) addressing changes through practical strategies. These strategies helped maintain mutually beneficial, reciprocal friendships that were able to withstand changes that accompany a diagnosis of dementia.

EHealth Intervention to Improve Health Habits in the Adolescent Population: Mixed Methods Study.

BackgroundTechnology has provided a new way of life for the adolescent population. Indeed, strategies aimed at improving health-related behaviors through digital platforms can offer promising results. However, since it has been shown that peers are capable of modifying behaviors related to food and physical exercise, it is important to study whether digital interventions based on peer influence are capable of improving the weight status of adolescents.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an eHealth app in an adolescent population in terms of improvements in their age- and sex-adjusted BMI percentiles. Other goals of the study were to examine the social relationships of adolescents pre- and postintervention, and to identify the group leaders and study their profiles, eating and physical activity habits, and use of the web app.MethodsThe BMI percentiles were calculated in accordance with the reference guidelines of the World Health Organization. Participants’ diets and levels of physical activity were assessed using the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED) questionnaire and the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A), respectively. The variables related to social networks were analyzed using the social network analysis (SNA) methodology. In this respect, peer relationships that were considered reciprocal friendships were used to compute the “degree” measure, which was used as an indicative parameter of centrality.ResultsThe sample population comprised 210 individuals in the intervention group (IG) and 91 individuals in the control group (CG). A participation rate of 60.1% (301/501) was obtained. After checking for homogeneity between the IG and the CG, it was found that adolescents in the IG at BMI percentiles both below and above the 50th percentile (P50) modified their BMI to approach this reference value (with a significance of P<.001 among individuals with an initial BMI below the P50 and P=.04 for those with an initial BMI above the P50). The diet was also improved in the IG compared with the CG (P<.001). After verifying that the social network had increased postintervention, it was seen that the group leaders (according to the degree SNA measure) were also leaders in physical activity performed (P=.002) and use of the app.ConclusionsThe eHealth app was able to modify behaviors related to P50 compliance and exert a positive influence in relation to diet and physical exercise. Digital interventions in the adolescent population, based on the improvement in behaviors related to healthy habits and optimizing the social network, can offer promising results that help in the fight against obesity.

Star of The Week Programs Based on Peer Relationship for Children Social Emotional Development

Star of The Week Programs Based on Peer Relationship for Children Social Emotional Development

Influences of Teacher-Child Relationships and Classroom Social Management on Child-Perceived Peer Social Experiences During Early School Years.

Interactions with teachers and peers are critical for children’s social, behavioral, and academic development in the classroom context. However, these two types of interpersonal interactions in the classroom are usually pursued via separate lines of inquiries. The current study bridges these two areas of research to examine the way in which teachers influence child-perceived peer social support and peer victimization for 2,678 children within 183 classrooms in preschool through grade three. Two levels of teacher influence are considered, namely teacher–child closeness and conflict relationships at the child-level, and teacher management of interpersonal interactions at the classroom-level. Results of multilevel regression models showed that teacher–child closeness was associated with the growth of child-perceived peer social support from fall to spring, whereas teacher–child conflict and teachers’ behavior management practices were associated with the change in child-perceived peer victimization across the academic year. These associations were unique and above and beyond the influence of children’s actual peer social interactions, including reciprocal friendships and the collective classroom reputation of peer victimization. Collectively, findings highlight the multi-faceted teacher roles in shaping children’s perceptions of their peer social experiences during the earliest years of schooling.