INTERPERSONAL PROCESSES IN FRIENDSHIP - A COMPARISON OF ABUSED AND NONABUSED CHILDRENS EXPERIENCES

Although parental maltreatment has been presumed to have deleterious e ffects on children's abilities to form close relationships, observatio ns of abused children with their best friends have rarely been conduct ed. Sixteen 9- to 14-year-old physically abused children and 32 matche d nonabused children were observed during a 1.5-hr sequence of unstruc tured and structured tasks. Coding focused primarily on intimacy, conf lict, and affective expression. Abused children and their friends disp layed less overall intimacy than nonabused children and their friends, although peak levels of intimacy were similar for the 2 groups. Dyads containing an abused child were more conflictual than dyads without a bused children, especially during game-playing activities. Abused boys and their friends also displayed more negative affect during game pla ying than did dyads of nonabused friends. Abused girls and their frien ds displayed less positive affect than other friendship dyads during a ctivities involving primarily conversation and discussion. Several eff ects of gender and context not specific to abuse were also obtained.