<p>Similarity in academic achievement among friends (i.e., academic homophily) can arise from two processes, selection and influence. This study applied stochastic actor-based modeling using SIENA to disentangle friendship selection and social influence regarding academic achievement of Chinese adolescents in a three-year longitudinal sample of 880 middle school students (400 girls, year 1 mean age = 13.33) and 525 high school students (284 girls, year 1 mean age = 16.45). SIENA analyses revealed significant selection and influence effects pertaining to academic achievement for both middle school students and high school students across three years. Chinese adolescents preferred friendships with similarly achieving or higher achieving peers but avoided friendships with lower achieving peers. Friends’ influence on academic achievement can be both beneficial and detrimental. Chinese adolescents were more likely to increase in achievement when they befriended high-achieving peers, but decreased achievement when they were friends with low-achieving peers. There were no significant sex differences or school year differences (i.e., the first to second years versus the second to third years) in selection or influence effects for academic achievement. Influence effects were stronger for middle school students than for high school students, but no significant grade level differences emerged for selection effects. This study expands upon prior research by simultaneously assessing selection and influence effects on academic achievement and further examining the direction and strength of selection and influence processes regarding academic achievement using sophisticated modeling analyses. These results provide insights into the important role of cultural context in peer relationships and academic development by considering the strong pressure Chinese adolescents experience to be academically successful.</p>

My dissertation study portrayed how mature adults who had and practice their religious or spiritual convictions learned to develop spiritual friendships and how what they then learned from these friendships contributed to their own spiritual identity development. The study investigated how spiritual friendships, as learning schemes, gravitated towards learning and change by fostering critical reflection and encouraging the participants in such friendships to strive to be their best selves. The study also showed that spiritual friendships fostered personal and professional development that was linked to spiritual development. In particular, the study examined four spiritual friendships, involving nine participating spiritual friends (three dyads and one triad). It first uncovered how a spiritual friendship was initiated, developed, and maintained; then secondly, discussed how spiritual friendship cultivated the development of people in mature adulthood; and thirdly, explored how the learning and growth that occurred during the development procedure of the friendship contributed to the participants’ spiritual identity development. The study also defined what a spiritual friendship is as perceived and practiced by the research participants. The study employed portraiture, a qualitative research methodology, to paint a detailed representation of the participants’ lives, including their educational biographies, and to present their learning, formation, and development through practicing spiritual friendship. The study offers an in-depth and holistic portrayal of the paths the participating dyads and triads of the friendships walked as “fellow travelers” on their life voyages as these related to the formation of their spiritual selves in and through their spiritual friendships. It also sought to shed light on the triumphs of midlife and beyond: when people have gained greater experience, maturity, and capabilities, while at the same time they continued to grow and develop.

Loneliness is on the rise. Students in higher education report increased feelings of isolation, anxiety, and depression and the non-stop transactional culture rarely leaves time for quiet self-reflection or the cultivation of deep ties. Drawing connections between this spiritual impoverishment and the infantilization of Roman Catholic laity, this project engages a theopoetic of the Holy Trinity and feminist ecclesiology to argue for an expansion of sacramental consciousness. My strategic proposal for transformation rests in the design of a sacramental friendship program that nourishes a posture towards receptivity, innovation, just discipleship, and gratitude. This spacious scaffolding invites students to dig deep into their already holy lives, developing the skills of active listening and mindful presence to prioritize relationships over tasks.

The thesis deals with a friendship between heterosexual woman and homosexual man, the way it is created, the way it is maintained and the threats it has to face. The thesis defines the meaning of essential theoretical concepts such as gender, sexuality, friendship or intimacy and trust. It is based on ten semi-structured interview with women who define the relationship with their gay friends as a close one. It reflects ways, how gender and sexual identities are negotiated in the friendship, puts friendship with a gay man into a broader context of friendly relationships in a heteronormative society and traditional binary oppositions of feminine and masculine. The thesis also looks into strategies of how the informants construct their own identity, identity of their gay friend ad where they place the boundaries of this relationship.

Students experience many developmental changes as they experience adolescence. They begin to examine their identities in relation to others and often question their original values and beliefs that have been guiding their behavior. In fact, this susceptibility to peer influence can lead adolescents to engage in risky behavior rather than consider the future consequences of their actions. Despite the large body of literature that delineates peer influence and its effect on adolescent behavior, researchers have yet to examine the impact of high quality friendships on adolescents’ ability to resist to peer influence, and the following effects that this resistance to peer influence has on the youth’s identity and future consideration. Friendship quality was chosen as a moderating variable in the present study, as resistance to peer influence’s effect on identity and future outlook is believed to depend on whether or not the adolescent is in a high quality friendship. Specifically, the present study aims to answer the following research question: Does friendship quality moderate the effect of resistance to peer influence on identity and future outlook in adolescents after controlling for gender, socioeconomic status, and parental involvement in schooling? Many theories support the hypothesis that resistance to peer influence is associated with identity and future consideration, such as Social Comparison Theory, as well as theories associated with motivation. This study analyzed data collected as part of the NICHD–SECCYD comprehensive longitudinal study. Specifically, the effects of resistance to peer influence on identity and future consideration was analyzed in AMOS 22, using a multiple group path model with friendship quality as a moderator.

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Identity creation in friendship circles. A qualitative study on young adults' identity  creation in friendship circles.  All social contexts consist of norms and expectations, which presupposes a structure that highlights desirable behavior. This also happens among friendship circles, and a central challenge for young adults thus becomes reading the situation and adapting to confirm that expectations are met. Previous research informs how social media and the influence of friends influence the individual's identity creation. The purpose of the studies is to investigate young adults' identity creation with a focus on friendship circles. In order to answer this in the best way, the essay is based on a qualitative research method with inspiration from the phenomenological orientation. This is realized through semi-structured interviews with eight respondents from the local environment. Self-identity, Habitus and impression control are the theories used to analyze the results. Overall, the results show that the individual's behavior patterns change in different social contexts and that friends have an influence on identity creation. There is a clear adaptation, which is perceived as natural. / Alla sociala sammanhang består av normer och förväntningar, vilket förutsätter en struktur som belyser önskvärt beteende. Detta sker även bland vänskapskretsar och en central utmaning för unga vuxna blir därmed att läsa av situationen och anpassa sig för att bekräfta att förväntningarna möts. Tidigare forskning upplyser hur sociala medier och vänners betydande påverkar individens identitetsskapande. Syftet med studien är att undersöka unga vuxnas identitetsskapande med fokus på vänskapskretsar. För att på bästa sätt besvara detta utgår uppsatsen från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med inspiration från den fenomenologiska inriktningen. Detta realiseras genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta respondenter från närmiljön. Självidentitet, Habitus och intrycksstyrning är teorierna som används för att analysera resultatet. Sammantaget visar resultatet att individens beteendemönster förändras i olika sociala sammanhang och att vänner har ett inflytande på identitetsskapandet. Det sker en tydlig anpassning som upplevs naturlig.

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