The Psychology of Friendship - Oxford University Press (2016)

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INTRODUCTION

Psychological Aspects of Friendship Across the Life Span,

Settings, and Relationships

Mahzad Hojjat and Anne Moyer

Friendships are important, potentially lifelong, close relationships that are essen-
tial to our social, psychological, and physical well- being. The friendship between
the coeditors of this book is a good example of a long- lasting friendship (over
two decades) that has passed the test of time and place, and is still going strong.
Interestingly, our friendship began in a peer- mentoring program in graduate school
(see chapter  9), and our first collaboration was a study on cross- sex friendships
( chapter  4). The idea for our newest collaboration, this volume, came out of an
informal discussion about the field of close relationships and how it has changed in
the last few years. Further research confirmed our belief that even though research
on relationships beyond those with kin and romantic partners has been increasing,
no scholarly books with a specific focus on friendships have been written in recent
years. Thus, our goal in editing this volume was to provide a scholarly, multidisci-
plinary compilation of the latest research and theory on friendship from scholars
across various disciplines and countries.
This volume is composed of four parts and a foreword. In the foreword, William
Rawlins describes how this vital relationship can be elusive to define and challeng-
ing to study due to variations in friendship’s meanings, ways of forming, and even
social proscriptions across contexts. In Part I, the chapters focus on how friend-
ship develops, changes, and interacts with particular milestones during stages of the
life course. Erdley and Day describe how friendships, in providing companionship,
self- validation, and intimacy, are essential to socioemotional adjustment during
childhood and adolescence. Wrzus, Zimmermann, Mund, and Neyer illustrate the
ways in which the functions of friendship change as people reach young and middle
adulthood and take on new roles (i.e., as workers, spouses, and parents) and engage