The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Friendship 293

Discussion Questions

1. Whose relationships are closer:
   men’s or women’s? Why?


2. How should we determine the an-
   swer to the previous question? How
   would you define a friend?


3. What role do self-disclosure and
   shared activities play in men’s and
   women’s friendships?


4. What person and situation variables
   influence self-disclosure?


5. What inhibits men’s self-disclosure
   to other men?


6. Why are females’ relationships con-
   sidered to be more fragile than those
   of males?


7. Discuss competition in the context
   of friendship. Do you believe that it
   is healthy or unhealthy?
   8. Describe how the way a culture con-
   strues the roles of women and men
   could affect their friendships.
   9. In what ways are cross-sex friend-
   ships similar to and different from
   same-sex friendships?


8. What are the challenges that cross-
   sex friendships face?


9. What does the research on same-sex
   friendship and cross-sex friendship
   lead you to predict about friendship
   among gay men and lesbians?


10. What are some critical normative
    life events that affect friendship? Are
    the effects for women and men the
    same?


11. How do marriage and work affect
    men’s and women’s friendships?

Suggested Reading

Elsesser, K., & Peplau, L. A. (2006). The

glass partition: Obstacles to cross-sex

friendships at work.Human Relations, 59,

1077–1100.

Galupo, M. P. (2009). Cross-category friend-

ship patterns: Comparison of heterosexual

and sexual minority adults.Journal of Social

and Personal Relationships, 26,811–831.

Rose, A. J. (2007). Structure, content,

and socioemotional correlates of girls’

and boy’s friendships.Merrill-Palmer

Quarterly, 53, 489–506. Special Issue on

Gender and Friendship.

Wright, P. H. (2006). Toward an expanded

orientation to the comparative study of

women’s and men’s same-sex friendships.

In K. Dindia & D. J. Canary (Eds.),Sex

differences and similarities in communica-

tion (2nd Ed.) (pp. 37–57). Mahwah, NJ:

Erlbaum.

Key Terms

Audience challenge—Concern that cross-

sex friends have about how their relationship

is viewed by others.

Autonomy versus connectedness—Conflict

encountered by friends at work when the

regular exposure to one another required

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