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Friendship and Happiness pp 171–185Cite as

Cross-sex Friendship and Happiness

Abstract

Established research has shown that friendship is an important correlate of happiness. Yet, these studies did not directly examine the relationship between cross-sex friendship and happiness. Thus, the studies reported in this chapter aimed to investigate the association of cross-sex friendship with happiness. The first study revealed that cross-sex friendship quality and happiness are positively correlated, regardless of how happiness was assessed (e.g., affective, global). The second study showed that cross-sex friendship-happiness association is similar among emerging adults in Turkey and the U.S. The third study provided additional support for a positive relationship between cross-sex friendship quality and happiness, as it revealed that cross-sex friendship quality predicted unique variance in happiness above and beyond the role of personality for both U.S. and Turkish samples. Collectively, the studies have shown that cross-sex friendship quality is a reliable correlate of happiness. Findings were evaluated in light of theory and directions for future research were provided.

Keywords

  • Cross-sex friendship
  • Happiness
  • Personality
  • Cross-cultural
  • Emerging adults
  • United States
  • Turkey

The contribution of authors other than the first and the corresponding author was equal and is ordered alphabetically.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Amanda D. Procsal & Melikşah Demir

  2. Ege Univerisity, İzmir, Turkey

    Aysun Doğan

  3. TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara, Turkey

    Ayça Özen

  4. Middles East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

    Nebi Sümer

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  1. Amanda D. Procsal
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  2. Melikşah Demir
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  3. Aysun Doğan
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  4. Ayça Özen
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  5. Nebi Sümer
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Correspondence to Melikşah Demir .

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  1. Department of Psychology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

    Melikşah Demir

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Procsal, A., Demir, M., Doğan, A., Özen, A., Sümer, N. (2015). Cross-sex Friendship and Happiness. In: Demir, M. (eds) Friendship and Happiness. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9603-3_10

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