Friendships in Flux: A Daily Examination of Friend Continuity and Associations with Adolescent Mood
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| Title: | Friendships in Flux: A Daily Examination of Friend Continuity and Associations with Adolescent Mood |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Alexandra D. Ehrhardt (ORCID |
| Source: | Developmental Psychology. 2025 61(10):1868-1874. |
| Availability: | American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 7 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Adolescents, Friendship, Psychological Patterns, Reliability, Well Being |
| Assessment and Survey Identifiers: | Positive and Negative Affect Schedule |
| DOI: | 10.1037/dev0002014 |
| ISSN: | 0012-1649 1939-0599 |
| Abstract: | Although maintaining stable friendships is an important developmental task for adolescents, there is limited understanding of whether adolescents' friendships vary from day to day and predict changes in emotional well-being. Therefore, the current daily diary study aimed to characterize the day-to-day consistency of adolescents' close friendships and investigate whether feeling close to the same friends from 1 day to the next (daily friend continuity) predicted daily mood. Fourteen consecutive days of friendship nominations and mood assessments were collected from 195 11th-grade students (M[subscript age] = 16.48; SD[subscript age] = 0.53; 66% female). Variability statistics (intraclass correlations, root mean square of successive differences) indicated considerable fluctuations in the consistency of friendship closeness as perceived by adolescents across 2 weeks. Results from multilevel models demonstrated that greater friend continuity was associated with greater positive mood, but not negative mood, at both the within- and between-person level. The findings reveal inconsistency in whom adolescents feel closest over 2 weeks and suggest that maintaining closeness with the same friends from 1 day to the next bolsters adolescents' short-term emotional well-being. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1502515 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Although maintaining stable friendships is an important developmental task for adolescents, there is limited understanding of whether adolescents' friendships vary from day to day and predict changes in emotional well-being. Therefore, the current daily diary study aimed to characterize the day-to-day consistency of adolescents' close friendships and investigate whether feeling close to the same friends from 1 day to the next (daily friend continuity) predicted daily mood. Fourteen consecutive days of friendship nominations and mood assessments were collected from 195 11th-grade students (M[subscript age] = 16.48; SD[subscript age] = 0.53; 66% female). Variability statistics (intraclass correlations, root mean square of successive differences) indicated considerable fluctuations in the consistency of friendship closeness as perceived by adolescents across 2 weeks. Results from multilevel models demonstrated that greater friend continuity was associated with greater positive mood, but not negative mood, at both the within- and between-person level. The findings reveal inconsistency in whom adolescents feel closest over 2 weeks and suggest that maintaining closeness with the same friends from 1 day to the next bolsters adolescents' short-term emotional well-being. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0012-1649 1939-0599 |
| DOI: | 10.1037/dev0002014 |
