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When Friends Disappoint: Boys’ and Girls’ Responses to Transgressions of Friendship Expectations
Author(s) -
MacEvoy Julie Paquette,
Asher Steven R.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01685.x
Subject(s) - friendship , psychology , betrayal , sadness , anger , developmental psychology , social psychology
In this study, the prevailing view that girls are pervasively more skilled in their friendships than boys was challenged by examining whether girls respond more negatively than boys when a friend violates core friendship expectations. Fourth‐ and fifth‐grade children ( n = 267) responded to vignettes depicting transgressions involving a friend’s betrayal, unreliability, or failure to provide support or help. Results indicated that girls were more troubled by the transgressions, more strongly endorsed various types of negative relationship interpretations of the friend’s actions, and reported more anger and sadness than did boys. Girls also endorsed revenge goals and aggressive strategies just as much as boys. These findings lead to a more complex view of boys’ and girls’ friendship competencies.