1. Social and Emotional Costs of “One-Sided Friendships” in Adolescence. Lauren Molloy & Joseph P. Allen University of Virginia We would like to thank the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development for funding awarded to Joseph P. Allen, Principal Investigator, (R01 HD058305 & R01-MH58066) for funding to conduct this study as well as for the write-up of this study. Introduction Individuals’ self-attitudes and “relational schemas” have long been theorized to originate from past relationship experiences (Bowlby, 1969; Cooley, 1922) Difficulty establishing positive peer relationships in adolescence is a known risk factor for later adjustment difficulties (e.g., Bukowski, Laursen, & Hoza, 2010; Prinstein & Aikins, 2004) Much less known about maladaptive patterns of interaction within youths’ friendships that may contribute to longer-term functioning What happens when youth experience asymmetry in a close friendship – i.e., a “one-sided friendship” – where one member of the dyad is more invested and “works harder” than the other to maintain the friendship? Present study examines the hypothesis that being in the more “invested” role in a one-sided friendship may have lasting implications for adolescents’ social and emotional development Hypotheses 1.One-sided friendships in adolescence will predict relative increases in internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression) 2.One-sided friendships in adolescence will predict poorer relational functioning in early adulthood, in the form of a) lower self-perceived social competence, and b) greater likelihood of relational victimization in romantic relationships Methods Conclusions Discussion Participants: 184 adolescents (socioeconomically and racially diverse) followed over a six-year period from ages 15-21 Measures: Friendship asymmetry: Age 15: observed teens discussing disagreement with close friend, coded for behaviors promoting their connectedness (e.g., warmth, validating) (Allen et al., 1994) Computed difference score representing asymmetry between teens’ and friends’ behaviors Depressive symptoms: age 15 self-report via Childhood Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs & Beck, 1977) and age 18 self-report via the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck & Steer, 1987) Anxiety symptoms: age 15 self-report via Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck & Steer, 1993) and age 18 self-report via the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, 1985) Self-perceptions of social competence: ages 15 and 18 self-report via the Harter Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (Harter, 1988) Relational victimization: age 20-22, romantic partners reported on the level of relational aggression they showed toward target participant (Morales & Crick, unpublished measure) Findings suggest a significant link between the experience of friendship asymmetry in middle adolescence and the development of internalizing symptoms and later relational functioning. Youth who are able to maintain connectedness during a disagreement typically fare better in their peer relationships and overall well-being. Yet the present findings reveal how such efforts can be detrimental when unreciprocated. Thus, while prevention efforts should continue to target the social skills of individual youth, the present findings implicate friendship dynamics as an important additional target for intervention. For instance, teaching youth how to: Choose and establish healthy, reciprocal friendships Ensure that one’s own needs are being met in relationships Recognize unhealthy, asymmetrical friendships Address asymmetry in a productive, assertive way Consistent with hypotheses, findings suggest that experience in the more invested role in a one-sided friendship during middle adolescence may have longer-term “costs” for individuals’ social and emotional development: Relative increases in anxiety and depressive symptoms Relative declines in self-perceived social competence More likely to experience relational victimization in a romantic relationship in early adulthood Perhaps these experiences come to shape teens’ views and expectations of themselves and their future relationships Teens in one-sided friendships may implicitly “learn”: That they are not valued or valuable – feelings that commonly underlie internalizing disorders That they are not deserving of healthy and balanced relationships – a belief or expectation likely to perpetuate the pattern Thoughts? Questions? Ideas? E-mail: Lauren Molloy at lmolloy@virginia.edu 2b. Teens in more invested role in a one-sided friendship during middle adolescence were more likely to experience relational victimization in a romantic relationship in young adulthood. 2a. Teens in more invested role in a one-sided friendship during middle adolescence experienced relative declines in self-perceptions of social competence in late adolescence Results References Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. attachment. New York: Basic Books. Bukowski, W. M., Laursen, B., & Hoza, B. (2010). The snowball effect: Friendship moderates escalations in depressed affect among avoidant and excluded children. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 749-757. doi: 10.1017/S095457941000043X Cooley, C. H. (1922). Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Scribner & Sons. Prinstein, M. J. & Aikins, J. W. (2004). Cognitive moderators of the longitudinal association between peer rejection and adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 147-158. 1. Teens in more invested role in a one-sided friendship during middle adolescence experienced relative increases in internalizing symptoms in late adolescence