Browsing by Subject "Friendship"
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Item Adolescent popularity: its relation to friendship characteristics and Its contagion among friends.(2010-07) Marks, Peter E.Since the late 1990s, quantitative researchers have differentiated between popularity, defined as a form of status determined by the group consensus, and preference, which is based on emotional reactions of individual peers. Although a great deal of work has gone into establishing correlates and consequences of popularity, very little work has investigated how popularity interacts with particular types of social relationships. The current study aimed to investigate the relation between popularity and friendships by replicating and expanding upon early findings of Rose, Swenson, & Carlson (2004) and by providing initial findings relevant to the theory of popularity contagion. This theory, proposed in the current study, posits that popularity should spread among friends (or other relationship partners) spontaneously and regardless of behavioral changes. Data were collected annually between 6th grade and 12th grade from a total of 1062 participants as part of a larger longitudinal study of peer relationships. Peer nominations assessed adolescents' friendships as well as popularity, social preference, overt aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior. Self-reports assessed friendship quality (i.e., companionship and conflict with best friends; Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1994). Replicating earlier findings of Rose et al. (2004), correlational results indicated that popular adolescents had a higher number of mutual friends, but did not seem to have friendships that lasted longer or were substantially higher in quality. Correlations between individual levels of popularity and mutual friends' levels of popularity were fairly high across all time points, indicating that popular individuals tended to have popular friends. Finally, longitudinal hypotheses generated from the theory of popularity contagion were mostly supported using path analyses, and showed (a) that individual popularity could be predicted by friends' popularity levels over time, even when controlling for stability of individual popularity; (b) that this prediction was not accounted for by behavioral contagion of aggressive or prosocial behaviors; and (c) that individual social preference generally could not be predicted by friends' preference levels over time. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.Item Keeping Your Friends Close: The Influence of Socioeconomic Status, Residential Stability, and Economic Uncertainty on Interpersonal Orientation(2016-08) Myers, JohnFrom a life history perspective, individuals from higher-SES backgrounds should adopt a slower life history strategy, whereas individuals from lower-SES backgrounds should adopt a faster life history strategy. However, some researchers have found that lower-SES individuals behave more prosocially than higher-SES individuals. This finding is somewhat problematic for the popular view that faster life history strategists ought to behave more opportunistically than slower life history strategists. The goal of the current line of research was to resolve this paradox by identifying a moderator¬ (the cohesiveness of one’s social network) that might help to explain the prosocial interpersonal orientations observed among lower-SES individuals. Three studies were designed to test the notion that there are two ways faster life history strategists might interact with members of their social networks: (1) a dependent strategy among faster life history strategists who live in residentially stable environments that provide immediate, on-demand resources from members of narrower and deeper social networks, and (2) an opportunistic strategy among faster life history strategists who live in residentially unstable environments that allow them to maximize the resources they can extract from their environments in the absence of narrower and deeper social ties. Although the current studies provided very limited support for the hypothesis that faster life history strategists (lower-SES individuals) who possess more social network/residential stability would behave more prosocially than slower life history strategists (higher-SES individuals) or faster life history strategists who lack social network/residential stability, some of the current findings suggest that this hypothesis should not be abandoned out of hand.Item Why Friendship?(2014-12) Brito, MarisolThis work examines the importance and value of relationships to learning and growth. I focus particularly on the importance of fostering and supporting friendship between persons with differing life experiences -- friendship across diversity. Rooted in the work of John Stuart Mill and Chimamanda Adichie, I claim such friendships provide a foundation not only for learning, but also for creating knowledge in the world. As a case study, I examine friendship between women and men in contemporary American society. I claim such friendship is a vital, yet under-supported, aspect of our development, as individuals and as members of a pluralistic society. In light of the potential benefits of friendship across difference, I advocate developing ways to increase societal support for such friendship and suggest how we might do so, in education and in wider society.Item Women's friendship dissolution: A qualitative study(2008-12) Jalma, Katie S.This study is the first of its kind to explore and describe female experiences of ending a friendship (non-romantic) with a female friend. The adult friendship did not end through death or moving away, and it ended within the last five years. The unique and specific characteristics of women's relationships with women may suggest that the maintenance of their relationships carry a particular importance that differs from social connections in the lives of men. Given the importance of relational connection in women's lives and the scarcity of literature regarding friendship dissolution, an investigation of the process of women's friendship dissolution was warranted. A survey of the literature provided direction for the exploratory research questions that guided the development of the interview protocol. Participants included in this study were 15 professional women (ages 25-72 years, median age = 32) self-selected from three different recruitment pools. The primary researcher conducted face-to-face interviews with all of the participants. The interviews were analyzed by a research team of three judges employing a qualitative research methodology guided by Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR; Hill, et al, 1997; Hill et al., 2005). The analysis was reviewed by an outside auditor for the study. Final data analysis revealed four domains (Friendship Characteristics, Components of Friendship Dissolution, Learning about Self and Friendship Dissolution, and Experience Related to Participation in Study and Interview), nine core ideas (Friendship Formation, Nature of Friendship, Reason for Dissolution, Process of Dissolution, Nature of Relationship Post-Dissolution, Outcome of Dissolution Experience, Increased Self-Awareness, Awareness Regarding Friendship and Dissolution, and Reaction to Interview), and thirty-two categories. Study strengths include exploratory investigation of an unexamined phenomenon, goodness of fit between research topic, data collection, and research methodology, and participant ability to describe complex facets of relationship dynamics due to their professions. Limitations of this study include the inability to generalize the findings outside of the participants of this study, self-select and self-report data collection methods, and possible interviewer and research team bias. Future research directions incorporate theoretical connections to female stress response (e.g. Taylor et al., 2000), relational aggression (Crick, 1995), and women's development (Josselson, 1996). Implications for the study for counseling women were discussed.Item Zhuangzi on Friendship and Death(2014) Elder, Alexis MZhuangzi suggests that death is a transformation that we commonly and mistakenly think means the end of someone but really just marks a new phase of existence. This metaphysical thesis is presented at several points in the text as an explanation of distinctively Daoist responses to death and loss. Some (such as Wong 2006) take a Daoist response to death, as presented by Zhuangzi, to indicate dual perspectives on friendship and death. But I argue that the metaphysical view sketched above is consistent with a unified perspective, allowing the Daoist to enjoy deep friendships without risking some potential for grief typically associated with strong attachment. However, it leaves the Daoist best suited to friendships with those who endorse the same metaphysics. Furthermore, while the grief associated with the death of a friend is somewhat mitigated, the Daoist has reason to mourn even given this thesis.