Personality and gender differences in friendship needs and experiences in preadolescence and young adulthood

Personality and gender differences in close same-sex friendship needs and experiences were investigated in two samples. Participants were 312 university students (217 women, M age 1/4 19.5) and 491 preadolescents (269 girls, M age 1/4 11.87). Participants completed several questionnaires yielding scores for communion and agency (personality), communal and agentic friendship needs, actual communal and agentic provisions of a best friendship, and affective functioning (satisfaction with the best friendship, loneliness). Findings revealed that close friendship serves both communal (connection) and agentic (social prominence) needs. Agency and/or communion predicted friendship needs and experiences and affective correlates of failure to meet friendship needs (friendship satisfaction, loneliness). Thus, friendship is not a homogeneous experience, but is shaped by the dispositions of the individuals who comprise it. Gender differences emerged in communal and agentic friendship needs and experiences; however, consensus among male and female participants regarding the functions of close friendship fails to support strong claims regarding gender-differentiated “worlds.”