The Effects of Gender Typicality and Atypicality in the Features and Similarities Models of Friendship Selection

Peer relationships are particularly important during adolescence. Two models of friendship selection prevail. In the features model, friends are selected based on desirable features/characteristics. The similarities model holds that friendships are forged based on similarities. The current study focused on disentangling these models in terms of the gender-typicality and -atypicality of early adolescents and their friends. Participants were 181 fifth- and sixth-graders from Montreal, Canada (Mage=10.67, 47.50% female). They completed questionnaires at the school year’s start and end. Participants nominated classmates as friends. Gender typicality and atypicality were measured using two peer nomination items (“Who in your class acts like a girl?”, “Who in your class acts like a boy?”). Same-sex nominations were used to create typicality and atypicality percentages. We employed logistic multilevel modeling. Having chosen a friend at time 1 was associated with a higher likelihood of choosing the same friend at the study’s end. Change over time in the peers’ typicality and atypicality was a significant predictor. Specifically, peers whose typicality and atypicality increased were more likely to be chosen as a friend later. Among peers who were chosen as a friend at time 1, higher typicality was associated with higher likelihood of choosing the same friend at the later. Children whose atypicality increased were likely to nominate a peer as a friend later if the peer’s atypicality also increased. We examined gender typicality and atypicality as a function of the features and the similarities models of friendship selection. Results supported both models