Friendship and Happiness (eBook)

Melikşah Demir received his Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Wayne State University (Detroit, Michigan, USA) in 2007. He is currently an associate professor at Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, Arizona, USA) since then. Since his graduate school years, Demir has been conducting research on friendship and happiness in different age groups (e.g., Demir & Urberg, 2004; Demir & Weitekamp, 2007; Demir, 2010). His current research focuses on delineating the processes and mechanisms responsible for the friendship-happiness link (e.g., Demir & Ozdemir, 2010). Specifically, Melikşah Demir is testing different theoretical models that could explain why friendship is related to happiness. He also conducts cross-cultural studies to examine whether the role of friendship in happiness is similar in different cultures.

Preface 5
Contents 9
Contributors 11
Part I 13
Perspectives on Friendship and Happiness 13
Friendship and Happiness From a Philosophical Perspective 14
Conceptions of Happiness as Subjective Well Being, Life Satisfaction and Pleasure 15
Philosophical Challenges to Happiness as Pleasure 17
Aristotle and Eudaimonia 18
Friendship and Happiness 20
References 27
Friendship and Happiness from a Sociological Perspective 30
Introduction 30
Happiness in the Sociological Discourse 31
Social Conditions for Happiness 33
Friendship in Sociological Discourse 35
Friendship and Happiness in Different Social Spheres 38
Concluding Remarks 41
References 42
Friends and Happiness: An Evolutionary Perspective on Friendship 47
An Evolutionary Approach to Friendship and Happiness 48
Evolutionary Models of Friendship 48
Reciprocal Altruism 48
The Alliance Model of Friendship 49
Positive Externalities 50
Mating Opportunities Within Friendships 51
The Benefits and Costs of Friendship 51
Benefits 52
Same-Sex Friendship 52
Cross-Sex Friendship 53
Costs 55
Same-Sex Friendship 55
Cross-Sex Friendship 55
Friendships and Maximizing Happiness 57
The Banker’s Paradox and Becoming Irreplaceable 58
Developing Close Friendships 58
Managing Intrasexual Rivalry 59
Minimizing Envy 60
Allowing for Communication 60
Conclusions 61
References 62
Friendship and Happiness: A Bidirectional Dynamic Process 68
Friendship and the Top 40 68
The General Perspective 69
What the Ancients Told Us 70
Friendship and the Peer Relations Model 72
Happiness and the Positive Psychology Model 77
Friendship and Happiness: The Nature of a Bidirectional Relationship 81
Conclusion 83
References 84
Part II 88
Friendship and Happiness Across the Lifespan: Reviews of the Literature 88
Children’s Friendships and Positive Well-Being 89
Assessment of Well-Being and Friendships in Children 92
Personal Relationships and Well-Being 94
Conclusion and Implications for Future Research 97
References 100
Friendship and Happiness in Adolescence 106
The Developmental Significance of Friendship in Adolescence 107
Measuring Happiness and Friendship in Adolescence 108
Empirical Evidence for the Link Between Friendship and Life Satisfaction 109
Empirical Evidence for the Link Between Friendship and Positive Affect 110
Empirical Evidence for the Link Between Friendship and Negative Affect 111
Conclusions and Directions for Future Research 114
References 118
Friendship and Happiness Among Young Adults 124
Conceptualization and Measurement of Friendship and Happiness 125
Theoretical Background and Review of Empirical Evidence 126
Theoretical Contributions 126
Empirical Findings 126
How Important is Friendship to Happiness? 129
Future Directions 131
Conclusion 136
References 136
Friendship and Happiness Among Middle-Aged Adults 143
Defining Friendship and Happiness 144
Theoretical Perspectives on Friendship and Happiness 145
Scales to Measure Friendship and Happiness 146
Existing Research 146
Limitations/Future Directions 152
Practical Implications 155
References 156
Friendship and Happiness in the Third Age 161
Measuring Friendship and Happiness among Older Adults 162
The Relationship Between Friendship and Happiness Among Older Adults 165
Future Directions 166
Large, National, Probability Samples 166
Comparisons Across Geographically-Distinct Populations and Population Subgroups 167
Longitudinal Studies 168
Practical Implications 170
Conclusions 171
References 172
Cross-sex Friendship and Happiness 176
Limitations 183
Directions for Future Research 184
Conclusion 186
References 186
Social Media, Friendship, and Happiness in the Millennial Generation 191
Friendship on Social Networking Sites in Digital Age Societies 191
Procuring Resources via Social Networking Sites: Customized Sociality 195
Customized Sociality and Happiness 198
Conclusions 204
References 205
Part III 211
Friendship and Happiness Across Cultures 211
Friendship and Happiness in Navajos (Bik’éí Diné Baa’ Hózhó) 212
The Navajo 212
Historical and Traditional Views of Friendship 216
Historical: Treaty Language 216
Navajo Biographies 217
Navajo Lifeways—Socio-cultural Elements 218
Navajo Language and Friendship 218
Social Interaction 218
Navajo Lifeways—Epistemology, Metaphysics and Philosophy 219
Research on Friendship and Happiness 221
Peer Groups 221
Elders 222
Conclusions 223
References 224
Friendship and Happiness in Latin America: A Review 227
Friendship and Happiness 227
Friendship, Subjective Well-Being, and Quality of Life 229
Discussion & Conclusions
References 234
Family, Friends, and Subjective Well-being: A Comparison Between the West and Asia 237
Family Relationship Versus Friendship 238
Family, Friend, and Subjective Well-being in Western Culture 240
Family, Friend, and Subjective Well-being Among Asians 243
Developing Trend and Future Research Directions 247
Conclusion 249
References 249
The Interplay Between Attachment to Mother and Friendship Quality in Predicting Life Satisfaction Among Turkish Children 254
Attachment Perspective 255
Attachment, Social Competence and Life Satisfaction in Middle Childhood 257
Attachment in the Cultural Context 259
Overview 261
Method 262
Results 263
Discussion 268
References 272
How are Positive and Negative Peer Relations Related to Positive and Negative Affect in Adolescents Over Sime in New Zealand? 276
The Positive Influences of Peers 276
The Negative Influences of Peers 277
Predictions 278
Method 278
Participants 278
Procedure 279
Measures 279
Results 280
Descriptive Statistics 280
Tests of hypotheses 281
Exploratory Longitudinal Moderation Analyses 284
Discussion 286
Limitations and future directions 287
Conclusions 288
References 288
Friendship, Needs Satisfaction, and Happiness Among College Students in France and Lebanon 291
Friendship 292
Self-Determination Theory and Basic Needs Satisfaction 292
The Proposed Model 293
Method 294
Results 296
Discussion 298
Limitations 298
Conclusion 299
References 299
I am so Happy ‘Cause my Best Friend is There for me When Things go Right: Friendship and Happiness 305
Information About Algeria and Slovakia 306
Friendship 306
Capitalization, Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts, and Well-being 307
The Model Tested 309
Method 309
Measures 310
Confirmatory Factor Analyses 310
Results 311
Discussion 313
Conclusion 314
References 315