Abstract

A longitudinal study was performed within a framework of social penetration theory to understand the processes of same sex friendship formation and development. 71 junior college students who had successfully developed into intimate friendship completed questionnaires three times an newly developing friendship during 14 months after admission to the college. Questionnaires were consisted of self-reports of dyadic behaviors, self-disclosure exchanged in dyad relationship, and rating of attractiveness of the best friend. Results revealed that both diversity of interpersonal behaviors and intimacy level of self-disclosure were increased as the relationship progressed. But there was no significant change in attractiveness of the friend. It was also found that dyadic behaviors and intimacy levels of self-disclosure were good multiple predictors of attractiveness of the friend 7 months later. The results were interpreted as a supporting data for social penetration theory.