The strong Black woman ideal is a long-established image in U.S. society pressuring Black women to maintain a facade of strength at all times. The strength ideal is internalized as an integral aspect of their identity, so much so that Black women socialize each other to habituate behaviors reflecting strength. The Strong Black Woman Collective Theory (SBWC; Davis, 2015a) posits that Black women re-appropriate the strong Black woman image and use certain communication behaviors to affirm strength in each other. By exhibiting these behaviors, they delineate a safe space to promote solidarity within the group and confront oppressors collectively. This new theory needs to be corroborated with empirical data to examine how the theoretical tenets are actualized in a real-world communication context. To this end, the present study conducts a partial test of the SBWC theory by observing Black women friend groups engage in supportive discussions about racial discrimination. This is an ideal context to test the SBWC theory because the friends are gathering together as a group of same race-gendered persons; they are discussing the wrongdoing of an identifiable external hostility that they are motivated to retreat from and confront; and strength gets reified as a form of support during the conversation. The study advances a path model to represent the empirical associations among four key variables: strength regulation, group identification and solidarity, verbal confrontation, and relational quality with the out-group member. Fifty-two Black women friends groups (three in each) aged 18-89 years were sampled but only the data from the support seeker were used for analyses (n = 52). All data were collected in the home of one of the participants as a way to observe the supportive conversation in a safe, naturalistic environment. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the Strong Black Woman Collective path model. The findings revealed that strength regulation was positively associated with group identification/solidarity, such that women felt more connected to the group when strength was regulated and reinforced. Also verbal derogation was inversely associated with relational satisfaction with the White woman aggressor. That is, support seekers reported lower levels of relational satisfaction with the White woman after she was verbally derogated during the discussion. The results also showed that strength regulation was positively correlated with verbal derogation, even though the relationship was approaching significance. Finally, verbal derogation had a very weak and nonsignificant association with group identification/solidarity. Findings from this study demonstrate that strength is functional in the context of Black women’s communication spaces and has important implications for their relationships with in-group affiliates and outsiders. The conclusion of this dissertation discusses the implications of these findings in relation to future articulations of the SBWC theory, extent research in Feminist Studies and Communication, and Black women’s day-to-day encounters with discrimination.

Current theory and research have suggested that adolescent friends share many similarities which range from strong similarities in sociodemographic variables to weaker correlations for personality characteristics. The goal of this study was to advance the base of knowledge related to similarities between friends by exploring relationships between early adolescent ego identity status and friendship strength, quality, and duration. First, the objective measure of Ego Identity Status was used to test the hypothesis that early adolescents in reciprocally identified friendship pairs are more similar in their ego identity status; no such relationship was found. Second, a measure designed to assess friendship qualities/strengths and duration lead to the conclusion that the quality/strength and duration of a friendship was also not associated with identity similarities. In addition, in-depth interviews of a subsample confirmed the findings associated with the full sample paper-pencil measures. Based on these findings, it appears that these early adolescents select friends who are not likely to operate within similar identity statuses.

Friends are of crucial importance to lesbians� lives, their significance heightened due to lack of acceptance from blood family, work colleagues and society. Despite a proliferation of literature on lesbians� love relationships, lesbians� friendships remain understudied. In the light of theorising about widespread shifts in intimacy patterns in modern industrial societies, this thesis examines the role of friendship for contemporary lesbians. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, using lesbian feminist, feminist psychological and mainstream sociological theories to interpret lesbians� negotiations of their friendships and preoccupations with their own continually developing sense of self. The study finds that firstly, the most significant issue in negotiating friendships is deciding on a lesbian identity despite socialisation to �compulsory heterosexuality�. Friends are expected to be accepting and supportive or they are lost. Discrimination, the fact that the lover is the �best friend�, struggles with difference in lesbian communities, time constraints and a more general shift to individualism mean that community and family contacts are replaced by small, supportive and affirming friendship networks. These meet needs and within them lesbians negotiate a sense of self, but for the most part with no template of political consciousness. Secondly, while friendships are important, they are also difficult. The fluidity of the friendship relationship, blurred boundaries between friends and lovers, and women�s moral �imperative to care� all provide barriers to communication. Thirdly, while lesbians value �the relational self�, a confident sense of self is challenged when close-connected relationships sit at odds both with mainstream, heterocentric culture, and with traditional models of psychology which promote independence and separateness. Lesbians who are confident communicators, who have access to alternative feminist discourses which value relatedness, and who, together with their friends, are open to change, are able to negotiate satisfactory friendships and relationships. The study demonstrates lesbians� complex subjectivities as changing selves are negotiated through friendships, love relationships and communities, particularly through experiences of loss.

Contemporary researchers typically classify negative peer interactions as bullying or conflict. Theoretically, bullying involves exploiting a power imbalance to demobilize a peer(s), and conflict involves using power tactics to exert influence or resolve a dispute. This study attempted to explore the exercise of power between adolescent peers within psychological, social psychological and feminist psychological frameworks of power, and bullying and conflict constructions. Three hundred and fifty-two Melbourne students from Years 7 to 10 completed a �Young People�s School Relationships� survey. Students described their understandings of personal and interpersonal power, and rated their perceived power. The experimenter asked the students to differentiate three recent difficult incidents with peers according to perceived power disadvantage (less power), balance (same power) and advantage (more power). They described the difficulties, their responses and their perceptions of the power balance. Outcomes were rated on affect, relationship quality and overall evaluation. Power construction, gender, and year group differences on perceived personal power were examined. Scenario type (less, same, more power), gender, year group (7/8, 9/10), and relationship closeness (not friends, friends) differences on difficulties, responses and outcomes were evaluated. The power constructions formed three themes (�power-within�, �power-with�, �power-over�). Difficulties were subgrouped into three forms (two-way, one-way, other-way) and three types (physical, verbal, social). Responses were categorised into adapting, distancing, dominating and engaging. There was no support for Falbo and Peplau�s (1980) two-dimensional model for classifying types of interpersonal responses in power-differentiated situations. Power was constructed most frequently as �power-within�. Perceived power ratings formed a Global Power Score (GPS), with males reporting higher GPSs. Males and year group 7/8 reported more physical difficulties in the �same� power, and females and year group 7/8 more social difficulties in the �less� and �more� power scenarios. Students reported more adapting responses in the difficult interpersonal situations. Adapting and distancing responses were more frequent in the less power scenario, and dominating and engaging more frequent in the more and less power scenarios respectively. Affect and relationship status outcomes were rated more positively in same power scenario. Outcomes were more positive for difficulties with friends. Students rated their responses more positively when they used engaging strategies, but less positively when they used distancing or dominating. Power theories provided partial explanations for the findings and alternative frameworks to bullying and conflict for understanding negative peer interactions. This study extends on knowledge of adolescents� school-based relationships and proposes a power model for schools

In this qualitative study, gay and straight men's experiences in male friendships were examined in order to explore differences and similarities between the participants' construction of masculinities. A social constructionist approach to understanding human experience was utilised, through an examination of in-depth interviews with 21 men (10 straight, 11 gay). The data was interpreted following a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, utilising the lens of Gestalt therapy theory, resulting in a series of essence statements, which expressed the underlying structures of the participants' experiences of masculinity. These findings revealed constructions of masculinities which were explored in relation to the participants' close male friendships and support seeking processes. A major finding was the importance of shame as a regulating variable in the gay and straight participants' construction of their masculinity. Shame or avoidance of shame appeared to be linked to the influence of a dominant heterosexual masculine ideology. It was revealed that whilst dominant masculine ideologies were experienced as powerful 'background' beliefs, the participants were able to construct contemporaneous masculinities that were contextual and field sensitive. Thus the concept of masculinities appears inherently fluid, and changeable. Furthermore, the results indicated different definitions of friendship which appeared to be related to different constructions of masculinity. The gay participants' friendships were described in interpersonal terms compared with the straight participants' friendships which appeared more focussed on external activities. The experience of shame, or fear of the potential for shame emerged as important variables that influenced intimacy, closeness and distance in gay and straight participants' friendships and their ability to seek and receive emotional social support. The finding that men appear to seek help from male friends in ways that are consistent with their constructions of masculinity has important implications for fostering supportive interactions between men. Furthermore, an understanding of men's experiences regarding what constitutes a supportive interaction and defines intimacy appears important as these views will most likely guide their decision making processes about from whom and how they might seek support. Finally, the possibilities for constructing new masculinities are explored as men's friendships and support behaviour are both influenced by, and in turn influence, the construction of masculinities.

This study examines the friendship patterns of students in a year 7 to 10 A.C.T. high school using Vertical Integration as a grouping policy. The origins of this study can be found in the school's policy developed in 1976 and favouring vertical integration on the basis of perceived social benefits. In the development of teaching strategies at Melba High, Vertical Integration has been used with all year groups in all subject areas. Over the last three years teachers have questioned the validity of this policy. This study arose out of the demand by staff for more detailed understanding of group formation processes generally and of the link between group formation and school grouping policies at Melba High in particular. The approach used to generate data was an action research design that could feed information to the school decision-making processes. The key findings of the study were that; (a) whatever form of Vertical Integration was used, students still worked in age and sex groups by choice. (b) students tended to form friendships on a subschool basis. Recommendations resulting from these findings have been implemented in the present planning of Melba High School. The format for Vertical Integration (the method of combining years 7,8,9 and 10 in classes) has been modified to combine adjacent year groups only. (viz. years 7 and 8 as one group and years 9 and 10 as another).

本研究旨在探索青春期好友關係中「不理」的互動事件。過去研究將「不理」視為關係攻擊，然而，不理或斷絕關係會發生在好友關係上，且行為者自身對此亦有相當的痛苦感，關係攻擊未能解釋如此弔詭現象。事實上，為了維繫關係的和諧，雙方關係良好者 通常不易以抗爭因應，衝突成為內隱性，不直接撕破臉而以「不理」為傳達不滿的方式。因此，本研究將以黃囇莉（2006）「人際和諧與衝突動態模式」為研究架構，於關係脈絡下重新理解「不理」。並以半結構式的訪談大綱，針對十三名參與者進行深度訪談，蒐集參與者述說其「不理」的經驗歷程的質性資料。 研究結果指出，「不理」的互動歷程展現出青春期友誼拿捏人我距離的練習，並對於後續親密關係的人際互動有所影響。青春期的好友關係為非穩定的自發性情感支持關係，卻由於好友的角色義務不明確，反而令「關係」的親近拿捏成為引發衝突的原因，從親與近的互動浮現關係裡的失合與失調，包括「無心傷害」、「情感性地付出與回報不對等」、「挫敗遷怒」及「拉開距離」，成為主動方心底的內隱衝突。這些主動方主觀知覺的內隱衝突較為隱晦，無正當性據理力爭，加上社會文化對於關係和諧的要求，令主動方身處於「直接吵是傷人，放低姿態溝通卻有損自我」的兩難情境。在顧全大局之下，主動方運用「不理」讓被動方能意識到他的不滿，而使得主動方的內隱衝突有機會浮上雙方互動的檯面，因此看似無互動的不理，實則為主動方促始關係改變的方式。 在「不理」的停滯期間，若持續沒有明確的焦點，冷靜之後，衝突淡化而進入虛性和諧。若衝突激化，則會造成關係的斷裂。特別的是，「不理」同時提供將虛性和轉化成實性和諧的機會。讓內隱衝突浮現檯面，若能予以冷靜化，雙方相互溝通，使之成為實性衝突，而能有所聚焦。且在此過程中雙方能表達對關係的重視，反而能讓雙方的關係轉化成更穩定的實性和諧。此外，由於青春期友誼有相當高的情感依附性，即使實際互動早已形同陌路，心裡卻不會輕易認定關係結止，既然關係未完成，就有復合的一日。由此可知，「不理」其後的結果不一定全是負面，這是以關係攻擊觀點無法看見之處。 本研究將焦點置於關係之中，探索青春期友誼關係中「不理」的因素，提供更細密地資料以理解當事人的難處與心理歷程，並凸顯出友誼關係離合的轉折，讓關係的鬆動與改變有計可施。因而可作為青少年友誼人際衝突化解與結束之預防教育與輔導的參考。 / Previous studies treat ignoring like one type of relationship aggression. However ignoring and ending the relationship happen in close friendships. From the relationship aggression point of view , there is no explanation why the actor feels pain and guilt in this situation. In interpersonal conflict the people who place importance on the relationship can not easily confront it but rather let the conflict become implicit. Not to damage the relationship directly but to ignore the target is one way of coping with conflict. Ignoring passes on an unsatisfied feeling silently. This study used the dynamic model of interpersonal harmony and conflict to explore ignoring. 13 participants were interviewed to report their own ignoring experiences. The results showed that the ignoring process is a practice in how to balance the I-Thou psychological distance and it affects future intimate relationships. Close friendships in adolescence are high support relationships but can be unstable. Due to obscure role obligation, causes of conflict in these relationships include “unwittingly harm”,” inequitable affections”, “anger transferring”, and ”more independent space”. In addition to all of these hidden conflicts are illegitimate reasons. Also, the cultural drive to maintain harmony results in a dilemma where acting out hurts the other but not acting out hurts oneself. There were four results after this “stuck in the mud” period. If the conflict stayed vague, the relationship entered into superficial harmony, where the closeness of the relationship was decreased. If the conflict grew, the resulting relationship was broken. If there was a chance to communicate clearly and express each other’s value in the relationship, the resulting relationship entered into genuine harmony. The last result was an unfinished situation due to the high affection in adolescent friendship. Even though there was no longer contact, these people did not easily identify the end of the relationship. This suggests, the results after ignoring are not all negative. However from the relationship aggression point of view, positive results cannot be found. Thus, this research suggests using the the interpersonal and harmony views to explore ignoring and it is suggested that understanding the ignoring situation is more effective than blocking it in practice.

<p>In September of year 2006, a young boy was brutally killed by a girl, age sixteen, in Örebro, Sweden. Girlgangs became a frequent subject in media. Professionals’ working with adolescents claims that girlgangs notis an existing phenomena in Sweden as it is in for example in the United States. The aim of this thesis was to investigate if teenage girls in Sweden have a tendency to join gangs as they do in the United States. This was qualitative study with four focus groups with teenage girls in three different areas in Stockholm. Areas with different social economic standards were chosen for the study to compare the girls’ answers. The result was analysed by a social psychological perspective and theoretic background. The result of this study showed that the group is important to the girls in their socialisation process and in order to create identity. There were similarities between the answers between the result of this study and research in The United States considering the girls choosing friends as they look for similarities between each other and the need of having fun. A tendency in the girls’ answers could not be seen in the matter of creating girlgangs as they do in the United States.</p>

<p>The aim of the dissertation is to understand the playing of computer games based on its own conditions, and questions are asked such as what is the meaning constructed around playing and themselves as players, what is the social construction of playing and how can playing computer games be understood from the perspective of youth culture? A basic interest in the thesis is to contribute to the understanding of Bildung in an informal context outside the institutions, activities and genres that traditionally stand for Bildung.</p><p>The empirical investigation that forms the basis of this thesis i in the form of presence at various LANs and interviews with players. The research perspective includes a hermeneutic point of departure and playing computer games is interpreted and understood from three perspectives: playing computer games as a meaning of Bildung (play and mimesis), as social meaning (friendship and community) and as cultural (style).</p><p>The results demonstrates that playing computer games is something the player does to relax, to have fun and it makes the time that passes meaningful. For dedicated players, playing computer games is a longing for community. To be a member of a community provides the opportunity to become someone in relation to the others. To participate in the community of players is a way to achieve understanding about how one is expected to behave in a larger community, that is to say society. The players are not much interested in clothes and fashion. Alcohol and other drugs are disapproved. Not stealing from others in the LAN, helping each other and sharing both knowledge and material things are also ways of expressing style. </p><p>Playing computergames is Bildung and the experiences and insights wich playing can provide should have a place in a vision regarding Bildung in our time. The teachers and the school should make use of the free-time experiences that young people take with them to school.</p>

<p>Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka om ansiktsattraktivitet hänger samman med kvalitet i vänskapsrelationer. Hypotesen utgick ifrån att likhet i ansiktsattraktivitet påverkar valet av viktigaste vän samt att en låg skillnad i ansiktsattraktivitet mellan personerna gynnar relationskvaliteten. Tidigare forskning har antingen undersökt attraktivitet eller vänskapsrelationer. Vår uppsats knyter samman dessa två faktorer. 150 tonårspojkars ansiktsattraktivitet bedömdes med hjälp av ett eget utformat instrument. Data på pojkarnas vänskapsrelationer från en longitudinell studie användes för jämförelser. Högt skattad ansiktsattraktivitet visade i vår studie ha ett samband med konflikter i vänskapsrelationen. Attraktiviteten visade sig inte spela någon roll i valet av viktigaste vän. Däremot har attraktiviteten en betydelse för vänskapskvaliteten, då hög ansiktsattraktivitet påverkar vänskapskvaliteten negativt.</p> / <p>The purpose of this thesis was to investigate if facial attractiveness and quality in relationships are connected. The hypothesis was that equality in facial attractiveness matters in people’s choices of important friends and that low difference in facial attractiveness between the people profits quality in their friendship. Earlier research has either been focusing on attractiveness or quality in friendships. This thesis links these two factors together. The facial attractiveness of 150 teenage boys was judged with an instrument made by us. Data, with information about the boys’ relationships, from a longitudinal study were used for comparisons. We found that high facial attractiveness is related to conflicts in friendships, but that attractiveness does not matter in the choice of important friends. However, attractiveness does matter in friendship quality, since high attractiveness affects the quality in a negative way.</p>