The intimate friendship scale: factors and association with drinking patterns among college aged friends

UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Sarah Allgood (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW )
Web Site: http://library.uncw.edu/
Advisor
Robert Roer

Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to examine the development of the Intimate Friendship Scale (IFS), a 32 item self-report measure of close friendship initially developed using adolescent Kibbutz children. Investigations of the structure of friendship are useful for advancing knowledge of what dimensions influence drinking patterns among friend dyads in college. Sharabany has proposed an eight-factor model of friendship and her questionnaire items are widely used but their latent structure and factorial validity remains contentious. Three Studies examined the internal validity of the Intimate Friendship Scale using college-aged students (N = 762). A two-factor model of friendship was found to fit the data the best. The two factors were theoretically described as characteristic of either Intimate or Instrumental friendship. Study 4 uses these two factors and examines the drinking patterns among friendship dyads in college. Results indicate that friends that rated themselves higher on the Intimate subscale items had higher odds of drinking with their friend. However, there was no association between scores on the Instrumental subscale and the likelihood of shared drinking occasions. Further, when examining individual differences in drinking patterns between friends, it was found that there were no significant relationships between the subscales and discrepancies in friends’ individual differences in alcohol use in terms of how often, how much, or the number of days that the partner drank alcohol (with or without the friend). These findings further emphasize the complex nature of friendship and its association with alcohol use in college. Further research should aim towards developing a multidimensional friendship measure and longitudinal studies that evaluate the relationship between friendship and alcohol use in college.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
Language: English
Date: 2009
Keywords
College students--Alcohol use--United States, Drinking of alcoholic beverages--United States
Subjects
College students -- Alcohol use -- United States
Drinking of alcoholic beverages -- United States

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