Friends Forever: A Longitudinal Exploration of Intimacy in Same-Sex Friends and Platonic Pairs

Abstract

In this paper, we report on the results of a 4-year longitudinal study that explored predictors of future closeness in nonromantic friendship pairs. Subjects were forty-five pairs representing male-male, female-female, and male-female (platonic) friendships. The first phase of data collection took place in 1983; the follow-up study took place in 1987 and included 93 percent of the original subjects. The results revealed no significant predictors for closeness among female-female or platonic pairs. Several significant predictors emerged for male-male friendships, including status similarity, proficiency at Password, prior room mate status, the number of areas that partners avoided in normal conversation and geographical distance. The results support the notion of overall partner similarity as an important predictor of continued friendship.