Adolescents and their friends.

Abstract

Friendships represent an important context for adolescent social development. A review of the extant literature reveals that friendships of adolescents differ in several respects from those of younger children. During adolescence, three dimensions of friendship affect the course of individual development: having friends, who one's friends are, and the quality of the friendship. Still, much remains to be learned about the nature and functions of friendship during the second decade of life, and a progressive research agenda is proposed to address this lacuna.