Computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as electronic mail and newsgroups, is quickly becoming a pervasive interpersonal communication means. The general research purpose of the present study is to investigate the communicative strategies individuals use to maintain exclusively Internet-based friendships and the extent to which cultural, relational and channel-related factors may affect the use of these strategies. A total of 136 Chinese Internet users and 134 American Internet users completed an online survey that measured maintenance strategies that they used for sustaining a friendship that they had developed on the Internet, their online friendship relational experience (relational and partner certainty and relational equity), and communication channel-related variables (perceived social presence of the Internet and anticipation of face-to-face interactions in the near future). Participants were also asked to think of an offline “real-life” friendship and to answer questions about relational maintenance strategies used for sustaining this friendship. The results suggested that overall people use more prosocial relational maintenance strategies in their offline friendships than in their online friendship. However, this pattern was moderated by friendship status. The gap of frequencies of relational maintenance strategies in online and offline friendships was particularly large for casual friendships. With regard to antisocial maintenance strategies, participants reported more coercion/criticism in offline friendships but more deception in online friendships. Consistent with the prior findings concerning cultural variations in relational maintenance, the current study found that the American participants more frequently used prosocial maintenance strategies than did the Chinese participants in both online and offline friendships. On the other hand, the Chinese participants were more likely to use all types antisocial maintenance strategies than their American counterparts in both online and offline friendships. The result of the current study confirmed that varied degrees of relational uncertainty and relational equity are associated with the use of relational maintenance strategies. The findings also indicated the impact of communication channel-related factors on online friendship maintenance strategies. In sum, the findings of this cross-cultural study lent credence to the view that meaningful relationships are maintained via CMC. This study has added knowledge about ways this new technology used in sustaining relationships across different national cultures.

Vor dem Hintergrund der Fragen, wer bereit ist eine enge Beziehung zu einer Person mit hohem Narzissmus einzugehen und wie Personen mit hohem Narzissmus ihre Freundschaften wahrnehmen, war das Ziel dieser Arbeit die wahrgenommene Beziehungsqualität in langfristigen Freundschaften in Abhängigkeit von Narzissmus zu untersuchen. In der ersten Studie wurde eine dyadische Perspektive eingenommen und beobachtet, ob sich die Qualität der Freundschaft in Abhängigkeit von dem Narzissmuslevel zweier Freunde unterscheidet. Wie angenommen, schätzten Personen in Dyaden mit höherem Narzissmus die Qualität ihrer Freundschaft geringer ein als Personen in Dyaden mit niedrigerem Narzissmus. Über alle Narzissmusaspekte hinweg wurden mehr Konflikte wahrgenommen. Dyaden mit hohem antagonistischem Narzissmus empfanden zudem weniger Wertschätzung und Intimität. Die Befunde wurden zugunsten der Annahme interpretiert, dass narzisstisches Verhalten von denjenigen toleriert wird, die selbst narzisstische Züge besitzen. In der zweiten Studie wurde eine längsschnittliche Perspektive eingenommen, um die Interaktionseffekte von Narzissmus und wahrgenommener Freundschaftsqualität in 4 Messzeitpunkten zu untersuchen. Innerhalb von Personen zeigte sich, dass diejenigen, die ihren Narzissmus niedriger als üblich einschätzten, in der Folge höhere Wertschätzung empfanden, und dass diejenigen, die eine niedrigere Wertschätzung als üblich empfanden ihr Verhalten als antagonistischer einschätzten. Die zu Beginn von Freundschaften gefundenen Effekte scheinen daher übertragbar auf die Phase der Aufrechterhaltung von Freundschaften, wobei besonders der antagonistische Narzissmus die negativen Auswirkungen von Narzissmus zu treiben scheint. Insgesamt wurde in dieser Arbeit die bisherige Forschung zu Narzissmus und sozialen Beziehungen durch die Beobachtung der Beziehungsqualität in langfristigen Freundschaften erweitert, indem sowohl eine dyadische als auch eine längsschnittliche Perspektive einbezogen wurde. / Who is willing to be in a close relationship to an individual with high narcissism, and how do individuals with high narcissism perceive their friendships? Three aspects of narcissism were distinguished (agentic, antagonistic, neurotic) to determine their association with four aspects of friendship quality (appreciation, intimacy, conflict, dominance). In the first study, a dyadic perspective was taken to observe whether friendship quality differs depending on the dyadic narcissism level of friends. As hypothesized, individuals in dyads with higher narcissism perceived their friendship quality as lower, compared to individuals in dyads with lower narcissism. More conflicts were perceived across narcissism aspects. Dyads with high antagonistic narcissism also perceived lower appreciation and intimacy. Results were interpreted in favor of the assumption that maladaptive traits are tolerated by those who possess these traits themselves. In the second study, a longitudinal perspective was taken to examine interactional effects of narcissism and friendship quality across 4 measurement occasions. On a within-person level, individuals scoring lower than usual on narcissism were found to subsequently perceive higher appreciation, and those perceiving lower appreciation than usual subsequently increased in antagonistic narcissism. Results suggested that the effects found in relationship formation tend to generalize to relationship maintenance. Overall, this work expanded previous research on narcissism and social relationships by observing relationship quality in long-term friendships including a dyadic as well as a longitudinal perspective. To answer the question of who is willing to be friends with someone high in narcissism, results suggest that it would be individuals who also score high on narcissism. In regard to the question of how individuals with high narcissism perceive their friendships it was found that they tend to be willing to accept lower friendship quality.