The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

262 Chapter 8

women’s friendship that may explain these sex

differences. First, I review the differences and

then I turn to the similarities.

Sex Differences

During childhood, the nature of female and

male friendship becomes increasingly distinct.

By adolescence, girls spend time talking with

their friends, and boys spend time sharing activ-

ities with their friends (McNelles & Connolly,

1999). Boys view friendship as instrumental: A

friend is someone with whom you do things.

Girls view friendship as more emotional: A

friend is someone with whom you connect.

The female emphasis on self-disclosure

and the male emphasis on shared activities

persist in adulthood. Studies of college stu-

dents show that females find more intimacy in

their friendships compared to males, whereas

males find more companionship in their

friendships compared to females (Singleton &

Vacca, 2007). In a study of college students

from the United States and Russia (Sheets &

Lugar, 2005), females shared more personal

information with friends compared to males,

and males shared more activities with friends

compared to females, as shown in Figure 8.2.

friends (Wright, 1999). One reason that it

is difficult to determine if there are sex dif-

ferences in the size of friendship networks

is that theconceptof friend may differ for

women and men. Now, we discuss the nature

of women’s and men’s friendship.

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ It is unlikely that network size differs vastly between

girls and boys or between women and men.

■ It may appear at times that boys have more friends

than girls, because boys play in larger groups than girls.

The Nature of Friendship

Friendship is an area of research where the

differences between females and males are

overemphasized compared to the similarities.

There are numerous ways in which men’s and

women’s friendships are quite similar. Yet it is

true that women’s friendships are closer than

those of men, and friendships with women are

closer than friendships with men. There are

some differences in the nature of men’s and

FIGURE 8.2 Sex differences in sharing intimate information and shared activities appeared for

both U.S. and Russian college students. Females shared more personal information than males, and

males shared more activities with friends than females.

Source: Adapted from Sheets and Lugar (2005).

3.6

3.8

4.0

4.2

4.4

4.6

4.8

Shared Activities

United States Russia

Male Female Male Female

United States Russia

Male Female Male Female

Share Intimate Information4.9

5.0

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7

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