Forecasting "friends forever": A longitudinal investigation of sustained closeness between best friends

doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00158.x

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Wiley InterScience

Personal Relationships

Volume 14 Issue 2, Pages 343 - 350

Published Online: 11 Jul 2007

Published on behalf of the International Association for Relationship Research

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Forecasting "friends forever": A longitudinal investigation of sustained closeness between best friends

ANDREW M. LEDBETTER, ^a EM GRIFFIN, ^b GLENN G. SPARKS ^c

^a Ohio University; ^b Wheaton College; ^c Purdue University

Correspondence to Andrew M. Ledbetter, Ohio University, School of Communication Studies, Lasher Hall, Athens, OH 45701, e-mail: Andrew.Ledbetter.1@ohio.edu.

Andrew M. Ledbetter, Department of Communication Studies, University of Kansas; Em Griffin, Communication Department, Wheaton College; Glenn G. Sparks, Department of Communication, Purdue University.

Andrew M. Ledbetter is now at Ohio University.

An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago (November, 2004). A report on the second phase of this longitudinal study was published in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (Griffin & Sparks, 1990). A separate manuscript from this data set has been accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of New Media & Society.

Abstract

Using data collected across 19 years, the chief goal of this study was to discover predictors of continued relational closeness between best friends. Participants were same-sex and cross-sex best friend pairs recruited from a small Midwestern college. In 1983, participants completed several tests and activities designed to assess facets of intimacy, with follow-up studies in 1987 and 2002 measuring relational closeness. Regression analysis indicates that both manifest similarity and months of closeness in 1983 are associated with relational closeness in 2002. These results suggest that the investment of resources in the friendship and similarity between friends facilitate friendship longevity and that Kelley et al.'s (1983) conceptualization of closeness as related to interdependence is empirically robust.

Received: 03 April 2007; Accepted: 02 July 2007;

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00158.x About DOI