272 Benefits and Maintenance of Friendships
friendships, yet fewer than half of adolescents’ best friendship last longer than 1 year
(e.g., Branje, Frijns, Finkenauer, Engels, & Meeus, 2007). Best friends play an espe-
cially crucial role for adolescents as they provide acceptance, respect, trust, intimacy
and opportunities for self- disclosure (e.g., Cole & Bradac, 1996, see also chapter 15
on best friends and mental health status). However, these friendships, compared
with other types of relationships, appear to be especially vulnerable to deterioration
when there is a decrease in contact and time spent in shared activities (Roberts &
Dunbar, 2011). Thus, it is essential to understand how these close relationships are
maintained, especially during periods of transitions when relationships might be
especially vulnerable to deterioration or termination.
In a longitudinal study examining what happens to high school best friendships
during the first year of college, nearly half of all of high school best friendships tran-
sitioned to close or casual friendships (Oswald & Clark, 2003). However, use of
the maintenance behaviors of self- disclosure, positivity, supportiveness, and inter-
action were predictive of maintaining the friendship during the first year of college.
Communication- based maintenance seemed to be of central importance and was
associated with not only maintaining the best friendship but also sustaining high
levels of friendship satisfaction and commitment. Importantly, maintaining the best
friendship was associated with less loneliness, further suggesting the importance of
maintaining close friendships for social and mental well- being.
There is growing evidence that use of maintenance behaviors may be associated
with a wide range of relationship- related behaviors and individual differences. For
example, when conflict in a relationship occurs, the friends might engage in mainte-
nance behaviors to sustain the relationship through tough times and simultaneously
engage in problem- solving behaviors. Oswald and Clark (2006) found that main-
tenance behaviors positively correlated with constructive problem- solving styles of
voice (actively and positively working toward solving a problem) and loyalty (con-
structively but passively solving a problem). In contrast, maintenance behaviors were
negatively correlated with destructive problem styles of neglect (a passive, destruc-
tive way to solve problems) and exit (destructive active way to solve problems).
Friendship maintenance behaviors are also associated with perception of avail-
able resources from newly formed social networks (McEwan & Guerrero, 2012).
McEwan and Guerreo note that friendship maintenance behaviors not only are
used to sustain developed friendships but also can be used to increase closeness in
newly formed friendships. In a study of first- year college students, it was found that
maintenance of casual and close friendships was associated with friendship qual-
ity. Furthermore, friendship quality and close friendship maintenance were directly
related to perceived availability of resources from the network.
Engaging in friendship maintenance behaviors appears to have even broader ben-
efits on psychological well- being. Across four studies, Demir and colleagues (2011)
found that engaging in friendship maintenance behaviors was strongly predictive of
happiness. Furthermore, while previous research has found that autonomy support