This researcher plans to develop a group of studies exploring the role of similarity, reciprocity, and proximity in black adolescent friendships. She will prepare to study personality and attitudinal similarity of reciprocal, non-reciprocal and non-friend dyads. Research questions to be addressed include: what types of similarities result in stable relationships? do these qualities change from early to late adolescence? She will also study cross-race and cross-sex friendships to see if they differ from same race and same sex relationships. Other studies will be concerned with ethnic and gender patterns in adolescent use of friends as social support. During the period of the planning grant, she will develop and refine existing measures of friendship and will consult with social interaction researchers.
