THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FRIENDSHIP RELATIONS: SOCIAL FACTORS.

Within the present paper, we have attempted to clarify the role of social structural variables in shaping friendships. Our interest in the friendship relationship has stemmed from the conviction that it constitutes a role relationship in which healthier behavior may be observed. In addition we feel that the study of such a relationship might lead to better understanding of the manner in which personality and social structural variables interact. Social structure has been broadly conceived as the framework which defines and delineates the range of friendships available to an individual. The variable of social status and role are viewed as being particularly important in structuring communication and interaction patterns of participants within a social setting, and in predisposing certain relationships more than others to move beyond the formally prescribed level of interaction. The fact that role prescriptions within a given social structure may force certain participants to become involved in interlocking interactions is viewed as having a two-fold significance. On one hand, it allows each participant to explore the desirability of becoming involved in a less formally prescribed interaction with his co-participant. On the other hand, if one or both participants do not wish to become involved in a less formal personality-centered type of interaction, the fact that the relationship has been formed and continues to be based upon social structure allows for the maintenance of a less affectively personally involved relationship without its disintegration. We have suggested that as the nature of the friendship relationship is explored more fully, it becomes clear that it must be viewed as a special type of role relationship--an integrative one in the sense that the multiple roles of each participant are brought together, shared and organized. In this connection, we hypothesize that the more central are the roles that each partner can share with the other in their friendship relationship, the greater the amount of closeness possible and the more satisfaction they experience in their mutual friendship interaction. `Within the present paper, we have spoken as if there were no individual differences in response to social structure. The fact that this isn't the case presents numerous opportunities for further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]