Adolescent Friendship Relations and Developmental Outcomes: Ethnic and Gender Differences

• NCJ Number: 227367
• Journal: Journal of Early Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2009 Pages: 405-425
• Author(s): Inge B. Wissink; Maja Dekovic; Anne Marie Meijer
• Date Published: June 2009
• Length: 21 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined various aspects of adolescent friendship relations - frequency of contact with friends, trust in friends, and perceived friends' deviance - and adolescent problem behaviors and self-esteem, as well as whether the findings held for adolescents from three ethnic groups (Dutch, Turkish, and Moroccan) and for boys and girls.

Abstract

Generally, the perceived deviance of friends was the most important predictor of externalizing problem behaviors. Besides its distinctive role in explaining variance in aggressive behavior, delinquent behavior, and self-esteem, it also interacted with frequency of contact with friends in the prediction of delinquent behavior; high contact with friends was only associated with more delinquent behavior when the friends were perceived as deviance; however, adolescent self-esteem was more strongly related to trust in friends. These findings confirm the study's hypothesis that perceived friends' deviance is more important for adolescent problem behavior; whereas, the quality of friendship relations is more determinative of adolescents' self-esteem. Only one interaction that involved ethnicity was significant; for Moroccan adolescents compared with Dutch adolescents, a high frequency of contact with friends was linked to a higher level of self-esteem. Gender differences were more pronounced than ethnic differences. Boys were found to have more contact with their friends, especially in the ethnic minority groups; whereas, girls reported a higher quality of friendships; girls also perceived their friends as less deviant than did boys. Boys had higher self-esteem, and girls reported a higher level of verbal aggression. The study sample consisted of 508 Dutch, Turkish, and Moroccan adolescents living in the Netherlands. They completed a battery of tests that measured variables related to friendship relations, aggressive behavior, delinquent behavior, and self-esteem. 6 tables, 2 figures, and 54 references