Girlfriend, boyfriend: Age and sex differences in intimate friendship.

Abstract

Changes in intimate friendship with same-sex and opposite-sex friends in preadolescence and adolescence were investigated using Sharabany's Intimacy Scale. The sample consisted of 480 Israeli children from the 5th, 7th, 9th, and llth grades who rated their friendship with a same-sex or opposite-sex best friend. There was a significant age difference in overall intimacy with same-sex friends. Frankness and spontaneity, knowing and sensitivity, attachment, exclusiveness, and giving and sharing were dimensions that exhibited change with age. Trust and loyalty, and taking and imposing did not. Opposite-sex friendship revealed a significant increase in intimacy with age. Boys and girls did not differ in reported opposite-sex friendship in the 5th and 7th grades, whereas girls in the 9th and llth grades reported higher intimacy than did boys. This sex-by-age pattern of interaction was particularly evident for attachment and for trust and loyalty. Girls were higher in knowing and sensitivity, giving and sharing, and taking and imposing. The implications for further differentiation among types of peer relations and interrelation of dyadic friendship and cognitive growth are discussed.The importance of peer relations for the normal social development of the individual has been documented. Studies relate to experiments with animals (e.g., Harlow, 1971;Suomi, 1978), schizophrenic adults (e.g., Pitt, Kornfeld, &Kolb, 1963), and young children (e.g., Freud & Dann, 1951). Most studies, however, including those that used the term friendship, focused mainly on acceptability and isolation among peers (see reviews in Hartup 1970Hartup , 1978Hartup , 1979. Few studies examined the nature of enduring meaningful relations proper, such as children's expectations of their friends (

What can be learned about peer effects using college roommates? Evidence from new survey data and students from disadvantaged backgrounds

“…We found that, on average, female students in the sample spent about 20% more time with their roommates. 21 Our findings of differences by sex and the evidence about the possible reasons for this result are consistent with results outside of economics which have found, for example, that girls develop closeness and intimacy with friends more quickly than boys (Sharabany, Gershoni, and Hofman, 1981), have an easier time talking to 22 There is also other recent evidence in the economics of education literature that peer effects may differ by gender. For example, Hoxby (2000) finds evidence that students have better math performance when they are in classrooms that contain more females.…”

A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: Potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys.

“…Mixed findings also emerge for youths' reports of helping behavior in their friendships in middle childhood and adolescence. However, closer inspection reveals that the studies finding no sex differences include either the youngest middle childhood youth in this group of studies (Patterson, Kupersmidt, & Griesler, 1990) or the smallest samples (Furman & Buhmester, 1985;Sharabany, Gershoni, & Hoffman, 1981). Effects in the studies in which differences do emerge involve large samples and produce effects ranging from small to medium-to-large (Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1994;Lempers & Clark-Lempers, 1993;Parker & Asher, 1993;Rose & Asher, 2004).…”

“…Studies of middle childhood and adolescent youth typically reveal significant effects ranging from small to medium-to-large indicating that girls are more likely than boys to receive several types of provisions in their friendships. These provisions include higher levels of closeness (Bukowski et al, 1994; Camerena et al, 1990), affection (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985;Lempers & Clark-Lempers, 1993;Patterson et al, 1990), nurturance (Lempers & Clark-Lempers, 1993), trust (Sharabany et al, 1981), security (Bukowski et al, 1994), validation (Parker & Asher, 1993, acceptance (Crockett et al, 1984), and enhancement of worth (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985). The smallest effects tend to emerge in studies involving middle childhood youth (Bukowski et al, 1994;Parker & Asher, 1993) and the largest effects emerge in studies that included adolescents (Camerena et al, 1990;Lempers & Clark-Lempers, 1993).…”

Attachment, Friendship, and Psychosocial Functioning in Early Adolescence

“…But given little empirical evidence on which to base parent gender hypotheses, our analyses regarding parent gender were strictly exploratory. (Buhrmester & Furman, 1987;Sharabany, Gershoni, & Hofman, 1981) and that girls may be more strongly affected than boys by tensions and strains in their best friendships (Clark & Ayers, 1992); as such, girls may be more influenced by close friendships than boys are. Thus, we hypothesized that girls would benefit more than boys from high-quality friendship relationships overall as well as in the context of qualitatively poor relationships with parents.…”