A Survival Analysis of Adolescent Friendships: The Downside of Dissimilarity

Friendships are important for adolescent adjustment and development; however, adolescent
friendships are fleeting. Friend dissimilarity and undesirable individual attributes have been
hypothesized to predict friendship dissolution. The present study tests each as predictors of adolescent
friendship dissolution. A sample of 410 U.S. adolescents participated in a total of 573 reciprocated
friendships originating in the 7th grade. These friendships were followed annually from 8th-12th grade
to determine when each friendship dissolved. In the 7th grade, participants completed a peernomination
inventory, and teachers completed a survey of each participant’s school competence.
Discrete-time survival analyses used 7th grade friend dissimilarity and individual characteristics of sex,
age, ethnicity, number of friends, peer acceptance, peer rejection, leadership, physical aggression,
relational aggression, peer victimization, and school competence as predictors of the occurrence and
timing of friendship dissolution. Friendships originating in the 7th grade were at greatest risk for
dissolution during the first year. Only 1 percent of friendships that started in the 7th grade lasted 5
years. Friend dissimilarity on sex, peer acceptance, physical aggression, and school competence
predicted friendship dissolution. At each grade, the odds of friendship dissolution were higher for
friends dissimilar on these characteristics. Individual characteristics failed to predict friendship
dissolution. The findings suggest compatibility is a function of similarity between friends rather
than the presence or absence of a specific individual trait. Adolescents seeking friendships with
individuals dissimilar from them on school-related characteristics risk suffering the downside of
dissimilarity, namely rapid friendship dissolution.