Relationship and Friendship Satisfaction Mary Kate Smith and

Relationship and Friendship Satisfaction Mary Kate Smith and Nicole Malott Penn State University – York, PA Abstract Our study looked at comparing relationship satisfaction to friendship satisfaction and commitment. To find how people felt we asked them to participate in a survey we created in class. We found no correlation between relationship satisfaction and friendship satisfaction and commitment Introduction We were interested in finding out how relationship satisfaction correlated to friendship satisfaction and commitment. We were interested in finding out if they had anything in common because people in relationships usually have a friendship too. Questions Some of the questions we used for relationship satisfaction were(on a five point scale); “How rewarding is your relationship with your partner? ” “In general, how satisfied are you with your relationship? ” Some of the questions we used for friendship satisfaction and commitment were (on a Likert scale); “For what length of time would you like your friendship to last? ” “To what extent are you committed to your friendship? ” Hypothesis Our hypothesis was, that if there is more commitment and satisfaction in friendships there will be more satisfaction in romantic relationships. Methods & Materials We made a questionnaire made up of different measures. Each student had to ask five friends to take the questionnaire. Participants were sent the questionnaire by email and asked to participate in our study. There was no compensation for participating. There were 58 participants in our study. Ages ranged from 18 -35 years old. The only requirement for participating was that they had to fall into this age range. This questionnaire was only taken once by each participant. Data Results There was no correlation between relationship satisfaction and friendship satisfaction and commitment. There was a significant correlation between friendship satisfaction and commitment at the. 01 level. Discussion There were some limitations to this study. One limitation could be the way that the friendship questions were set up and the scale could have confused people and affected the reliability. Another limitation was that not everyone answered all the questions in these sections of the survey. Conclusion Contrary to our hypothesis, if there is more commitment and satisfaction in a friendship there will be more satisfaction in a romantic relationship, we found that there is no correlation between the variables. References Cui, M. & Fincham, F. D. , 2010. The differential effects of parental divorce and martial conflict on young adult romantic relationships. Journal of the International Assoication for Relationship Research. 17(3). 331 -343. DOI: 10. 1111/j. 14756811. 2010. 01279. x Holland, A. S. & Roisman, G. I. , 2010. Adult Attachment Security and Young Adults’ Dating Relationships over time: Self-Reported, Observational, and Physiological Evidence. 552557 Developmental Psychology. 46(2). DOI: 10. 1037/a 0018542 Johnson, A. J. , Becker, J. A. H. , Craig, E. A. , Gilchrist, E. S. , & Haigh, M. M. 2009. Changes in Friendship Commitment: Comparing Geographically Close and Long-Distance Young. Adult Friendships. Communication Quarterly. 57(4)395 -415. DOI: 10. 1080/0146337093313430 Linder, J. R. , Crick, N. R. & Collins, W. A. 2002. Relational Aggression and Victimization in Young Adults’ Romantic Relationships: Associations with Perceptions of Parent, Peer, and Romantic Relationship. Social Development. 11(1) 69 -86. DOI: 10. 1111/1467 -9507. 00187 Mendelson, M. J. & Aboud, F. E. 1999. Measuring Friendship Quality in Late Adolescents and Young Adults: Mc. Gill Friendship Questionnaires. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science. 31(2). 130 -132 http: //ezaccess. libraries. psu. edu/login? url=http: //search. proquest. com. ezaccess. libraries. psu. ed u/docview/220492408? accountid=13158 Oswald, D. L. , & Clark, E. M. 2003. Best friends forever? : High school best friendships and the transition to college. Personal Relationships. 10(2). 187 -196 DOI: 10. 1111/1475 -6811. 00045 Acknowledgements We would like to thank all those who participated in our study. As well as, Dr. Seidel for helping us conduct this study.