Adolescent Friendship Pairs

Abstract

A total of 1,159 high school students (Grades 10 through 12) responded to a questionnaire designed to assess best friends' similarities in identity status (EOM-EIS) and related behaviors, attitudes, and intentions. Mutually identified best friends, nonmutually identified bestfriends, and randomly paired nonfriends (each n = 198 pairs) were identified to test hypotheses concerning friendship similarities. Tests of similarity indicated that mutually indentified best.friends shared distinct similarities in ego identity. Similarity indicators were greater for measures ot 'ego identity in specific content areas than for the global identity status levels or the interpersonal and ideological domains. In addition, mutually identified best friends were more similar than were nonffriends on many behaviors, attitudes, and intentions that were expected to be related to ego identity. Results replicate those of'existing investigations of friendship attitude and behavioral characteristics and extend friendship similarities into psychosocial contexts.