Childhood and Adolescence 5on can promote feelings of security and protect one from anxiety and feelings of vul-
nerability (Furman & Robbins, 1985). Through providing comfort and support to
one another, friends are also important sources of nurturance. Furthermore, being
selected as a friend by a peer can contribute to enhancement of worth, by affirming
one’s competence and value. In addition, close friendships are an important source
of affection. Furman and Robbins (1985) have argued that preadolescents and ado-
lescents experience stronger positive feelings in their friendships than in other peer
relationships and characterize this difference in intensity as the difference between
loving and liking. Finally, friends play a key role in providing intimacy, as the level of
disclosure tends to be more intense with close friends than with other peers.
Research has consistently indicated that compared with boys’ friendships, girls’
friendships are characterized by a greater exchange of emotional provisions. Girls
report more emotional support and intimacy in their friendships (Rudolph, Ladd, &
Dinella, 2007) and engage in more social conversation and disclosure (Rose, 2002).
Furthermore, girls report higher levels of affection and validation (Parker & Asher,
1993). Overall, compared with boys, girls rely more strongly on their friendships as
a source of self- definition (Rose & Rudolph, 2006).
These gender differences emerge by the late elementary school years. During
early childhood, boys and girls rate their friendships as being similar in intimacy,
but by preadolescence girls rate their same- sex friendships as more intimate than
do boys, a gender difference that becomes even more pronounced by adolescence
(Buhrmester & Furman, 1987). Interestingly, in early adolescence males and
females rate their cross- sex friendships as relatively low in intimacy, but by later
adolescence both males and females evaluate their cross- sex friendships as high in
intimacy, with females judging their cross- sex friendships to be as intimate as their
same- sex friendships and males rating their cross- sex friendships as more intimate
than their same- sex friendships (Reisman, 1990).
Assessment of Friendship
Research on children’s friendship experiences has focused on multiple aspects of
friendship, including whether a child has a friend, how many friends the child has, the
quality of those friendships, and the identity of the friends (Hartup, 1996). Given that
the essence of friendship is reciprocity, assessing the existence of a friendship typically
involves determining whether two children have positive feelings for one another. To
evaluate these feelings, sociometric measures including nominations (e.g., of a child as
a best friend or most liked peer) and/ or ratings (e.g., of how much children like to play
with a specific peer) are used. Researchers have employed these measures in differ-
ent combinations to identify friendship dyads. A common definition requires mutual
positive nominations (e.g., Parker & Asher, 1993). Other definitions involve the use of
both nominations and ratings, for example, requiring that at least one child nominate