A Cross‐Cultural Exploration of the Stability of Children's Friendships and the Predictors of their Continuation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore cultural differences in children's perceptions of friendship quality and in the predictors of the subsequent continuation of their relationships. Participants were third and fourth‐grade children in Florence, Italy, and Toronto, Canada. A total of 184 dyads of children who indicated that they were friends near the beginning of the school year completed questionnaires regarding the quality of their relationships. Among the Italian children, especially the girls, a higher proportion of friendships remained intact at the end of the school year than among the Canadians. Positive aspects of relationship quality at the first data collection point were associated with future friendship status, but earlier conflict within the dyad was unrelated to the continuation of friendship. The levels of conflict reported by the children were lower in the Italian sample than in Canada.

Differences in the Relations Between Antisocial Behavior and Peer Acceptance Across Contexts and Across Adolescence

“…Previous research has shown both cross-national differences and similarities between Italian and North American youth regarding family and peer relations (Attili, Vermigli, & Schneider, 1997;Casiglia, Lo Coco, & Zappulla, 1998;Claes, Lacourse, Bouchard, & Luckow, 2001;Eslea et al, 2004;Kiesner et al, 2002;Schneider, Fonzi, Tani, & Tomada, 1997;. Considering the existing literature, we have concluded that the overall pattern of relations between individual behavior, peer relations, and social adjustment appears to be similar across Italian and North American cultural contexts.…”

Target Specificity of Subjective Relationship Measures: Understanding the Determination of Item Variance

“…Finally, research has demonstrated cross-cultural differences in relationship quality and friendship stability (Schneider, Fonzi, Tani & Tomada, 1997). It should be noted that much of the research on friendship quality has been conducted on gradeschool children and therefore may not generalize to adolescents that will be examined in the present study.…”

The stability of social relations among adolescents with special educational needs (SEN) in regular schools in Norway

“…Bowker (2004) found that friendship stability was unrelated to friendship quality, while Schneider et al (1997) found that these factors are related. Although there seems to be consensus in research about the relation between peer acceptance and friendship formation (Parker and Asher 1993;Bukowski et al 1996), the relation between peer acceptance and friendship stability is disputed.…”