10 Friendship Across the Life Span
than in preadolescents. Adolescents with supportive friendships report higher
self- esteem in the social, behavioral, and scholastic domains, whereas adolescents
involved in friendships characterized by more negative features view their behavioral
conduct as less competent and are less happy about themselves (Keefe & Berndt,
1996). Regarding friendship quantity, adolescents who have at least one reciprocal
best friend have higher self- esteem than those without a best friend, but there is
not a cumulative effect of number of friends on self- esteem (Bishop & Inderbitzen,
1995). Notably, these studies do not provide insights regarding direction of effects.
Although it seems plausible that good friendships enhance self- esteem, it is also
possible that those with higher self- esteem are better able to develop high- quality
friendships, though it seems most likely that a reciprocal process occurs.
Peer Victimization
Friends can play an important role in reducing the incidence of peer victimization,
as well as the risks associated with being victimized. Children who have a best friend
are less likely to be victimized and experience decreases in victimization across the
school year (Hodges, Boivin, Vitaro, & Bukowski, 1999). Furthermore, children
with a greater number of friends are less likely to be victimized. Interestingly, when
controlling for friendship quantity, friendship quality is a unique predictor of risk
for victimization (Malcolm, Jensen- Campbell, Rex- Lear, & Waldrip, 2006). Thus,
beyond having friends, it is important to have good- quality relationships in which
friends provide companionship, support, and loyalty to protect against victimization.
For children who experience peer victimization, friends can buffer the negative
effects. Indeed, Hodges and colleagues (1999) found that victimization predicted
increases in internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but only for children without
a mutual best friendship. Specific qualities of friendship also play a role in protect-
ing children from the deleterious effects of victimization. In children, the positive
friendship features of providing security and help have been found to weaken the
link between victimization and internalizing distress (Schmidt & Bagwell, 2007).
In adolescents, the association between relational victimization and internalizing
problems was reduced when friendships were characterized by higher levels of help
and lower levels of conflict, with lower conflict also weakening the association of
relational victimization with externalizing problems (You & Bellmore, 2012).
Recent research (Calhoun et al., 2014) examining the biological consequences of
victimization has demonstrated that adolescents who have experienced high levels
of relational victimization show more blunted cortisol reactivity in response to social
stressors. However, for these victimized adolescents, friendship experiences are asso-
ciated with their biological capacity to handle stress. Specifically, when discussing a
stressor, adolescents whose friendships are low in negative qualities and high in respon-
siveness show better stress recovery. Thus, positive friendship experiences actually
impact adolescents’ biological capacity to cope effectively with interpersonal stress.