Mujeres y defensoras del medio ambiente: una doble exposición

The longitudinal examination of friendship patterns in Study 3 focuses on the consistency in friendship contexts. An important characteristic of this study was the focus on

different friendships over time. The results showed that when adolescents engage in different

friendships over time, there is considerable consistency in their friends’ behavior. This consistency is even stronger for bullying and withdrawn behavior of friends, as demonstrated by direct links between two different friends’ behavior in early adolescence and in middle adolescence three years later. Several implications of these results are outlined in Chapter 4. Here, further emphasis will be provided on its implications regarding the development of dyadic relationships in a broader sense.

The underlying process in this consistency of friendship patterns across time might be related to the behavioral profiles of adolescents and their relationship partners. Individuals might develop certain behavioral patterns in relationship contexts and the more they experience certain dyadic interaction patterns, the more they might be likely to follow similar interaction patterns across different contexts. In this manner, individuals actually develop certain behavioral interaction tendencies that they tend to repeat across time and relationship contexts. Over time, such behavioral tendencies of individuals displayed across contexts are referred to as personality characteristics (McCrae & Costa, 1989). Continuities across relationship contexts might be related to continuity in personality development. Beyond biological influences, the social environment plays a significant role in personality development. Interactions with significant relationship partners throughout the life-span, such as parents, peers, and romantic partners, might be shaped by individuals’ behavioral profiles and shape them in return. Among the big-five personality dimensions, peer-relationships might particularly play a role in the development of agreeableness and emotional stability. Whereas social-cognitive skills such as perspective-taking might relate to agreeableness characteristics of individuals, the affective component of social-cognition tapped by self- esteem might be linked to emotional-stability as a personality trait. A better understanding of continuities in dyadic relationship contexts is necessary and advances in this field shall contribute significantly to understanding personality development (Furman, 1993).

Attachment theory provides examples of continuity in attachment styles over time and across relationships (e.g., Hazan & Shaver, 1987). This attachment framework suggests that

General discussion 137

children develop internal working models within the context of parent-child relationships and these models shape their peer and romantic relationships later on. Other research focuses on different aspects of parent-child relationships such as relationship quality, parenting styles, parental behavior, or parental characteristics (Sherman, de Vries, & Lansford, 2000).

Another framework for understanding continuities in relationships across the life-span is suggested by Sullivan’s (1953) model of socioemotional development. This model situates friendships in a broader context of emerging needs across the life-span and points out the key relationships that serve to satisfy these needs in subsequent developmental stages. Briefly outlined, Sullivan’s theory proposes that in infancy (0-2 years) the main need for tenderness is provided by the parents. In childhood (2-6 years), the need for companionship emerges and parents remain as the main provider for this need. In the juvenile era (6-9 years), the peer group plays an important role in fulfilling the need for acceptance. During preadolescence (9- 12 years), same-sex dyadic friendships emerge as providers of the need for intimacy. Finally, during early adolescence, the need for sexuality emerges, which is provided by the romantic partner.

Emerging needs of each developmental stage in Sullivan’s theory require the development of various social cognitive skills and are further related to the development of behavioral tendencies. In other words, Sullivan suggests that the key relationships that play an important role in each stage provide individuals with the context in which they acquire particular interpersonal competencies throughout their social interactions. For example, the satisfaction of the need for tenderness during infancy can be related to the development of attachment styles that are outlined in detail in Bowlby’s attachment theory (1969). Same-sex friendships of the preadolescence era particularly provide a framework for social cognitive development such as abilities related to cooperation, mutual respect, and empathy (Smollar & Youniss, 1982). This theory suggests continuity from initial parent-child attachments to intimate friendships and romantic relationships, which might lie in the common elements related to intimacy, mutuality, and support across parent-child, friendship, and romantic relationships (Sharabany, 1994). The skills that are developed in one developmental stage are further used in relationships that are central to the proceeding stages. As suggested previously, friendships might contribute particularly to the development of social-cognitive skills with an affective component such as empathy. Dyadic peer relationships might in this manner

contribute to the development of proceeding relationships such as romantic relationships and parenting skills. Further, individual differences in friendship characteristics might help understand individual development in other relationship contexts. For example, prosocial friendships based on similarity might foster empathy-skills, which would be expected to contribute to higher relationship quality with romantic partners and with children as parents.

From a life-span perspective that views development as a life-long adaptive process, dyadic relationships in general can be seen as providing individuals with significant contexts for continuity as well as change. Accordingly, besides longitudinal continuity, it is possible to find consistencies across other significant relationships at one point in time, such as those with siblings, grandparents, extended family members, as well as antipathy relationships. Examination of individuals’ roles in simultaneous relationships might help understand such continuities. For example, a Bullying Antisocial friend might also engage in antipathy relationships as an Antisocial antagonist; a Victimized Withdrawn friend might be more likely to be a Withdrawn antagonist; a High Prosocial friend might be a Prosocial antagonist. Such patterns across peer relationships might be related to similar roles across other dyadic relationships, such as a Bullying Antisocial friend, victimizing his/her sibling or parents within the family context (Pepler, Corter, & Abramovitch, 1982). Such cross-sectional consistency in roles in relationships is furthermore supported by the examination of adolescents’ friendship networks at one point in time (Gürolu, van Lieshout, & Haselager, 2005). That is, when early as well as middle adolescents have multiple friendships, all their friendships tend to be of the same type as well as their role in these similar friendships. These results suggest that adolescents function in the same way and take part in similar dyadic friendship contexts cross- sectionally as well.

Furthermore, these patterns of continuities might be differentially related to adjustment patterns. Early adolescents who were classified as Bullying Antisocial friends in three different friendships were found to be perceived as less academically competent three years later in adolescence than those who were a Bullying Antisocial friend in a single friendship only (Gürolu et al., 2005). Thus, a comprehensive picture of individuals’ roles in multiple relationships will help us gain a better understanding of patterns of development across various developmental domains.

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