Gender Role Orientation and Relational Closeness: Self-Disclosive Behavior in Same-Sex Male Friendships

Abstract

Although the nature of intimacy within same-sex male friendships exhibits a marked difference from that of same-sex female friends, the open sharing of the self (known as self-disclosure) does occur regularly among male friends, albeit to a varying degree. The present research looks at the relationship between gender role orientation and self-disclosive behavior, empirically confronting the cultural stereotype that the enactment of self-disclosure is gendered. Most significantly, the present research looks at the effects of various conceptualizations of self-disclosure on multiple measures of closeness within a relationship, with increasing self-disclosure consistently found to be positively correlated with measures of increasing closeness within men's same-sex friendships.

Close ties: an exploratory Colored Eco-Genetic Relationship Map (CEGRM) study of social connections of men in Familial Testicular Cancer (FTC) families

“…"The open sharing of the self (self-disclosure) does occur regularly among male friends, albeit to a varying degree." [39]. Specific elements of self-disclosure that may be important are the amount of personal information revealed, control over the conversational circumstances, topical breadth, and the emotional valence of the personal material disclosed.…”

Self-disclosure mediates the effects of gender orientation and homophobia on the relationship quality of male same-sex friendships

“…After several years of being friends, it may be that any issues of homophobia or non-normative masculine behavior have long since been resolved and no longer have much salience in these well-established friendships where presumably, both men know each other well and feel comfortable and secure in each other's presence (Hall, 2011). If men in the initial stages of same-sex friendship development had been included in the current study, issues of masculine norms and homophobia might have produced a much stronger effect on friendship quality because these men would not have had the time to negotiate the effects of uncertainty generated by these issues (Bowman, 2008).…”

“…At the same time, researchers have demonstrated that in men's same-sex friendships, self-disclosure is positively associated with closeness (Bowman, 2008), relational satisfaction (Meeks, Hendrick, & Hendrick, 1998), relational stability (Sprecher, 1987), and feelings of love and commitment (Sprecher & Hendrick, 2004). Reisman (1990) found that greater amounts of self-disclosure lead to greater friendship satisfaction in men, while Bank (1995) reported a positive association between frequent expressive behaviors in best same-sex male friendship and more enjoyment of the friendship.…”

“…For example, in his study of men's same-sex friendships, Bowman (2008) found that masculinity was negatively associated with a willingness to self-disclose and that both femininity and androgyny were associated with a greater willingness to self-disclose. Other studies have reported that due to the demands of the masculine gender role, men are (a) more reluctant to self-disclose to other men (Blieszner & Adams, 1992;Duck & Pittman, 1994), (b) expected not to disclose as much (Duran & Kelly, 1985;Jones & Brunner, 1984), (c) are less receptive to self-disclosure from others (Brunch, 2002), and (d) provide less emotional support (Burleson, Holmstrom, & Gilstrap, 2005).…”

“…Compared with other friendship types, men generally seek a companion in their same-sex friendships as opposed to a confidante (Wood, 2001), as men often view their male friendships as an important source of physical/instrumental support and camaraderie (Coates, 2003;Grief, 2006). At the same time, male same-sex friendships tend to be overtly competitive, involve lower levels of overt affection, and less personal self-disclosure (Aukett, Ritchie, & Mill, 1988;Baumgarte & Nelson, 2009;Bowman, 2008;Grief, 2009). For example, in his study of male same-sex friendships, Swain (1989) found that more than two-thirds of his male participants pointed to activities other than talking (e.g., drinking together, watching, or playing sports) as their most meaningful friendship experiences.…”