Social motives and patterns of friendship

35 male and 70 female undergraduates described 10 friendship episodes--interactions with friends that lasted at least 15-20 min--that occurred in the previous 2 wks. They also listed strong points, weak points, and reasons for friendship for each of 5 friends who appeared in the reported friendship episodes. Intimacy and power motivation were assessed via scores from a previous administration of the TAT. Ss high in intimacy motivation reported (a) more dyadic friendship episodes, (b) more self-disclosure among friends, (c) more listening, and (d) more concern for the well-being of friends than did those low in intimacy motivation. Power motivation was associated with more large-group interactions (among males only) and purposeful, agentic striving in friendship episodes. In general, motivational differences tended to outweigh sex differences. Results are interpreted in terms of D. Bakan's (1966) conceptualization of agency and communion. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).