Abstract

Based upon the framework of multidimensional-causal approach to relationship development(Hahn, 1985, 1986a), a longitudinal study was performed to understand the process of friendship formation and development. 47 junior college students who successfully continued to make a intimate friendship and 33 noncontinuing subjects completed the questionnaire at the 3, 8, and 13 weeks during the first term after admission to the junior college. Questionnaire consisted of interpersonal behaviors, self-disclosures, attraction to the partner, and evaluation or judgement of relationship. On the whole, both the diversity of interpersonal behaviors and intimacy level of self-disclosure increased as the relationship progressed, but subjects who successfully continued to make a intimate friendship reported more behaviors, more self-disclosed, and were more attracted to the partner, compared with noncontinuing subjects. Equity about relationship, satisfaction, perceived liking, and expectation of being helped decreased for the noncontinuing subjects, but remained relatively unchanged in the continuing subjects. It was also found that while attraction to the partner was good predictor of the other aspects of friendship relationship in the earlier friendship development phase, satisfaction, expectation of being helped, and future anticipation with the relationship were more important predictors in the later phase. In addition, continuing subjects tended to make P×O interpersonal attribution and partner attribution for relationship maintenance, but for the noncontinuing subjects self-attributions were dominant as causes of relationship break-up. These results suggests that internal-external partition of attribution may be inappropriate for the intimate relationships.