OPERATIONALIZING THE CONSTRUCT OF FRIENDSHIP AMONG CHILDREN - A PSYCHOMETRIC COMPARISON OF SOCIOMETRIC-BASED DEFINITIONAL METHODOLOGIES

Peer relations researchers generally agree that friendship involves a close, mutual, dyadic relationship. However, the lack of consensus on how to operationalize this construct has limited our understanding of the role of friendship in social adjustment. The present study directl y compared the psychometric properties (i.e., number of friendships id entified, concordances, and stability) of the five major different def initions of friendship used in the literature. Fourth- and fifth-grade students (N = 90) completed a battery of sociometric measures at two different times separated by eight weeks. Friendship dyads were then i dentified using the following definitional criteria: (1) mutual positi ve nominations; (2) mutual high ratings (i.e., 4 or 5 on a five-point Likert-type scale); (3) one positive nomination reciprocated by a rati ng of 5; (4) one positive nomination and mutual high ratings; and (5) one positive nomination and mutual ratings averaging at leat 4. Freque ncy and concordance analyses indicated differences across the five def initions. In addition, the friendships identified by each of the five definitions were similarly moderate in their stability. Explanations f or, and the possible implications of, these differences are discussed.