Self-Disclosure 1 Running head: SELF-DISCLOSURE AND CLOSENESS Self-Disclosure and Friendship Closeness

Self-disclosure plays an important role in friendship closeness. It was hypothesized that individuals who self-disclosed in-depth about difficult topics to a close friend would rate those friendships as closer. Participants (N=50) rated the difficulty of self-disclosure and the depth of their self-disclosure to their close friend on a list of topics. They then rated the closeness of their friendship. Correlational tests examined the relationship between self-disclosure and intimacy. Results indicated a significant negative correlation between difficulty of disclosure and closeness of friendship, r(50) =-.717, p<.001, and a significant positive correlation between depth of disclosure and closeness, r(50) =.630, p<.001. These correlations indicate that individuals who self-disclose in-depth about difficult topics to friends experience those friendships as closer