Friendship, Perceived Mattering and Happiness: A Study of American and Turkish College Students

Although it is well established that friendship is a consistent correlate of happiness, less is known about how friendship experiences might promote happiness. The current investigation addressed this gap by testing a mediational model proposing that perceived mattering explains the association of friendship quality with happiness among college students in Turkey and the United States. An alternative model suggesting friendship quality as the mediator was also tested to enhance confidence in the proposed model. SEM analyses revealed that perceived mattering mediated the association of friendship with happiness only in the American sample. In the Turkish sample, friendship quality mediated the association between mattering and happiness. Findings highlight the importance of cross-cultural research and suggest that the underlying processes and psychological mechanisms related to the friendship-happiness link might be different in different cultures

Predicting friendship quality with rejection sensitivity and attachment security

We examined the interplay between friends' rejection sensitivity (RS) and attachment security in predicting friendship quality. Three competing hypotheses were tested concerning friendship quality, the unique effects of attachment anxiety, avoidance, and RS, as well as the moderating and mediating effects of RS. Results from emerging adults in Turkey (N = 407) revealed that unlike attachment anxiety and avoidance, RS had neither a unique nor a mediated effect on friendship quality. However, RS moderated the effect of attachment avoidance on friendship quality. These findings' implications are discussed considering the role of RS in the link between attachment security and friendship quality

I Am so Happy 'Cause My Best Friend Makes Me Feel Unique: Friendship, Personal Sense of Uniqueness and Happiness

WOS: 000323740500007Decades of empirical research leave no doubt that friendship experiences are consistent correlates of happiness. Yet, little is known about how friendships are related to happiness. The present study examined personal sense of uniqueness as a mediator of the relationship between same-sex best friendship quality and happiness in three samples each employing a different measure of happiness (n = 2,429). Results provided support to the mediational model in every sample and showed that it was gender invariant. The findings suggest that one reason why the quality of friendships is related to happiness is because friendship experiences promote individuals' feelings of uniqueness. The implications of the findings for friendship and happiness research are discussed and directions for future research are outlined

I Am So Happy 'Cause My Friend Is Happy for Me: Capitalization, Friendship, and Happiness Among US and Turkish College Students

WOS: 000322304500010PubMed ID: 23484350Friends usually share positive events in their lives with each other. Referred to as capitalization, this process promotes individual happiness when the discloser perceives that the responses display genuine support. Yet, the specific mechanisms explaining why capitalization is associated with happiness are not known. The present study addresses this empirical issue by testing a mediational model positing that friendship quality would mediate the relationship between capitalization and happiness among U.S. and Turkish college students. Although the psychosocial well-being of the U.S. participants was significantly higher than Turkish participants, the proposed model was supported in both groups. This suggests that part of the reason capitalization is associated with happiness is because of friendship experiences. The authors also provide suggestions for future research

Volunteer Bias in Research on Friendship Among Emerging Adults

Five studies (N = 5,150) relying on an exhaustive procedure addressed whether volunteer bias (VB) exists in friendship research among emerging adults (EAs). Consistently, the studies showed that women are more willing than men to participate in research on same- sex best friendship (SSBF). Studies 2 through 5 showed that friendship duration is not related to volunteering. Studies 3 and 4 showed that the friendships of volunteers were higher in positive friendship experiences compared to nonvolunteers. Finally, Study 5 showed that a significant portion of nonvolunteers ended up participating in research on SSBF. VB in research on friendship is an artifact that presents a concern for the generalizability and validity of findings relative to the friendship experiences of EAs. Recruitment strategies that could alleviate this problem are discussed

Self-Concordance and Subjective Well-Being in Four Cultures

Sheldon and colleagues have recently focused research attention on the concept of self-concordance, in which people feel that they pursue their goals because the goals fit with their underlying interests and values rather than because others say they should pursue them. Self-concordant individuals typically evidence higher subjective well-being (SWB). But is this also true in non-Western cultures, which emphasize people’s duty to conform to societal expectations and group-centered norms? To address this question, this study assessed goal self-concordance and SWB in four different cultures. U.S., Chinese, and South Korean samples evidenced equal levels of self-concordance, whereas a Taiwanese sample evidenced somewhat less self-concordance. More importantly, self-concordance predicted SWB within every culture. It appears that “owning one’s actions”—that is, feeling that one’s goals are consistent with the self—may be important for most if not all humans

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Perceptions of peers as socialization agents and adjustment in upper secondary school

The purpose of present study was to explore the perceptions of peers as socialization agents in school adjustment among upper secondary school students. The associations were studied in a sample of 564 Norwegian students. Results showed that perceptions of friends and classmates as socialization agents accounted for unique variances in various measures of school adjustment, when controlled for academic achievement, family financial situation, year of schooling, gender and course of study. The unique effect of peer socialization factors on variances in intentions to quit school, truancy, class absence, school alienation and improved motivation for continued education was 7.9%, 7.2%, 6.8%, 6.5% and 5.3% respectively, indicating that late adolescents' school adjustment is statistically significant, but relatively moderately associated with different aspects of peer socialization. School-obstructive regulation was the variable that accounted for most variances in school adjustment, followed by classmate support and school-supportive regulation

Fragility of Happiness Beliefs Across 15 National Groups

The belief that happiness is fragile—that it is fleeting and may easily turn into less favourable states—is common across individuals and cultures. However, not much is known about this belief domain and its structure and correlates. In the present study, we use multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel modelling to investigate the measurement invariance, cross-level isomorphism, predictive validity, and nomological network of the fragility of happiness scale across 15 nations. The results show that this scale has good statistical properties at both individual and cultural levels, and is associated with relevant psycho-social concepts in expected directions. The importance of the results, limitations, and potential directions for future research are discusse