POWER AND THE QUALITY OF SAME-SEX FRIENDSHIPS

Does the quality of same-sex friendship depend on the gender of the fr iends and the balance of power between friends? Fifty-four men and 60 women undergraduates evaluated two of their same-sex friendships, one equal in power and one unequal in power. The quality of each friendshi p was rated in terms of emotional closeness, satisfaction, liking, sel f-disclosure, and rewards. In general, most young adults evaluated the ir friendships positively. Mixed-model multivariate analyses of varian ce (MANOVAs) found significant main effects of gender and power on rat ings of quality, but no interactions. Consistent with previous researc h, women generally evaluated their same-sex friendships more positivel y than did men. Gender differences were relatively small in magnitude and were not found for all indices of relationship quality, however. A s predicted, participants rated equal-power friendships significantly higher than unequal-power friendships on all measures of quality. Powe r appears to be an important but largely neglected element of friendsh ip.