Friendships across time and space: the effects of a life transition on friendships

Weiner, Aaron

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/45647 Copy

Description

Title

Friendships across time and space: the effects of a life transition on friendships

Author(s)

Weiner, Aaron

Issue Date

2013-08-22T16:56:37Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Hannum, James W.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Hannum, James W.

Committee Member(s)

• Rounds, James
• Karahalios, Karrie G.
• Robinson-Cimpian, Joseph P.

Department of Study

Educational Psychology

Discipline

Educational Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Long distance friendship
• friendship
• personality
• individual differences
• communication
• computer-mediated communication
• friendship maintenance

Abstract

While friendship over distance was once rare, numerous new technological options have created the opportunity to maintain friendships while not being geographically proximate. However, research examining the friendship dynamics of long-distance friends is rare, and the effects of communication and personality on long-distance friendship maintenance have not been fully explored. The present study represents a longitudinal examination of the effects of communication and personality variables on maintaining a best friendship from high-school over participants’ first year of college, as well as the effects of this maintenance on the development of a new social network. In terms of communication quantity, results indicated that text messaging frequency was the most consistently associated with friendship maintenance over distance. Instant messages (IMs) and communication via social networking sites (SNSs) were also associated with multiple relational outcomes. In regard to communication quality, higher quality of communication was associated with positive relational outcomes for all mediums except for e-mail and face-to-face contact. Agreeableness and Extraversion were also strongly related to positive friendship outcomes, although did not affect the trajectory of relational outcomes over time. Positive associations were also observed between maintaining a high-school best friend and both social and psychological outcomes. Possible future directions and limitations are also discussed.

Graduation Semester

2013-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45647

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2013, Aaron Weiner

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