Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine Korean high school students’ experience and perceptions of friendship and to inductively conceptualize friendship. The concept mapping method which is used to quantitatively analyze qualitative data was used to identify and visualize participants’ experiences and perceptions of friendship. Through a brainstorming process, 93 statements were generated by boys and 100 statements were generated by girls, each set of which were sorted and categorized to generate concept maps. The final concept maps from both group equally had two dimensions: ‘Practical-Conceptual’ and ‘Behavioral-Emotional’. The number of categories was equal to four, but there were some differences in the specifics of the statements in the category. Boys tended to conceptualize friendship as a source of happiness; a type of informal relationship through which they could share their everyday lives; and provide mutual care and engage in emotional bonding. In addition to those conceptualizations, girls also tended to conceptualize friendship as an affective alliance through which they displayed devotion to each other. Boys regarded the sympathy and bonding found in and the happiness produced by friendship as more important elements, whereas girls regarded the care and support found in and the informal nature of friendship as more important.