Poster #227 - “No New Friends”? Changes in Adolescents’ Social Contentment after Having Lost, New, and Stable Friendships

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Friendships are important – they are influential sources of social support and socialization and are protective against maladjustment and loneliness (Parker & Asher, 1993; Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). However, as social isolation becomes highly visible in the more grouped peer context of adolescence (Adler & Adler, 1998), gaining and maintaining peer friendships are of particularly high priority among youth. Losing friends not only means less social support (Cairns, Leung, & Cairns, 1995), but also leaves youth more vulnerable to peer scrutiny and rejection (Berndt, 1989). Yet, losing friendships is common during adolescence. A recent meta-analysis found that only 50% of adolescent friendships are stable over time (Meter & Card, 2016). Additionally, 66% of adolescents report at least one of their friendships had ended within the past year (Bowker, 2011). As most adolescents tend to adjust well, yet most lose friends during this time, research has yet to examine how youths’ perceptions of their social well-being remain positive regardless of how infrequently their friendships remain stable. Using a longitudinal design and quantitative analysis approach, the current study explores how adolescents’ perceptions of having recently lost, made new, or kept stable peer friendships affect their social happiness and satisfaction (i.e. social contentment).
428 adolescents from seven middle schools in the Midwest participated in this study (49% Black, 54% female). Participants were asked to name up to 10 of their closest grade-level friends at school at both Wave 1 (administered in the fall of 7th grade) and Wave 2 (administered in the fall of 8th grade). Frequencies of friends that were not listed, newly listed, or again listed as friends at Wave 2 relative to Wave 1 were calculated, as well as their proportion to their total number of friends listed (see Figure 1 for detailed descriptions of friendship predictors). Adolescents’ social contentment was captured at both Wave 1 and 2 via four self-reported measures: social satisfaction, best friendship quality, social self-concept, and sense of belonging (each on a 5-point Likert scale). Friendship predictors were regressed onto each of the four Wave 2 social contentment measures, controlling for initial Wave 1 levels of contentment.
Results indicated that more new friendships and having lost more friendships increased youths’ social satisfaction the following year, yet decreased their sense of belonging at school if the majority of their friendships were either lost or new. Conversely, having more stable friendships increased youths’ sense of belonging, but was unrelated to youths’ social satisfaction. Youth who gained new friends, had more stable friendships, as well as those who had listed more friends than the prior year, exhibited a greater social self-concept. The relationships between lost, new, and stable friendships and best friendship quality were largely insignificant (see Figure 2).
Overall, these findings further our understanding of the relationships between friendship stability and youths’ perceptions of psychosocial well-being than previously considered. Largely changing one’s friends appears to benefit youths’ sense of social satisfaction and success, yet impair their sense of belonging at school that having consistent peer friendships provides.

Authors

• Sharlyn Marie Ferguson, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

• Nicole Brass, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Allison M. Ryan, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author