| Abstract [eng] |
Friendship is a mutual, voluntary relationship from which members expect intimacy, companionship, and responsiveness (Kenny, 1994). Friendship quality is considered as an essential element that describes friendship and it is easy to assess empirically. According to M. J. Mendelson and F.E. Aboud (1999) it is defined as friendship functions that the friend should to fulfill. There are six friendship functions: stimulating companionship, help, intimacy, reliable alliance, self-validation and emotional security. In the last few years there has been an increasing interest in the positive aspects of psychological functioning, including psychological well-being. A recent conceptualization of psychological well-being is the multidimensional model proposed by C. Ryff and coworkers. They distinguished six core dimensions of psychological well-being: self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth (Lindfors et. al., 2006a). Interpersonal relationships contribute to adult’s psychological well-being (Ryff, Heidrich, 1997), but yet little is known about how friendship quality affects the psychological well-being. The aim of the study presented in this work was to examine the different aspects of friendship quality and psychological well-being in early and middle adulthood. The sample consisted of 75 young adults (average age 25,53 years) and 53 middle age adults (average age 45,04 years). All respondents completed questions about self and his/her best friend, McGill Friendship Questionnaire-Friend's Functions, Friendship Questionnaire-Respondent's Affection and Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being. The results revealed some different friendship quality patterns among early and middle adulthood. Middle age adults showed lower scores on stimulating companionship subscale, this difference was statistically significant. Gender differences analysis revealed woman’ friendship quality scores being higher on intimacy, positive feelings and satisfaction subscales in early adulthood and woman’ scores being higher on intimacy and stimulating companionship subscales than men in middle adulthood. Results indicated that aspects of psychological well-being were not affected by age and sex factor in middle adulthood. Woman’ scores were higher on environmental mastery and personal growth scales than men in early adulthood. Many friendship quality components were related to psychological well-being aspects in early adulthood and some components were related to psychological well-being aspects in middle adulthood. In the early adulthood men sample there were more significant associations between friendship quality components and psychological well-being aspects than in women sample. In the middle adulthood men sample there were less significant associations between friendship quality components and psychological well-being aspects than in women sample. |
