Male and female American and Japanese perceptions of close friendship

Graduation date: 1992This study focused on perceptions of close friendship across gender groups in two national cultures. Four groups: a U.S.\ud American male group, a U.S. American female group, a Japanese male group, and a Japanese female group, were studied. Cultural value differences in individualism and collectivism, "doing" and "being" orientations, masculine and feminine value dimensions, and cultural norms affected the perceptions of close friendships held by\ud males and females from the U.S. and Japan.\ud Respondents' descriptions and explanations of their ideas about close friendships and of past experiences with close friends were analyzed in this study. The definition of a close friend, the most important requirement of a close friendship, managing conflicts with a close friend, the termination of a close friendship, general demographic information about close friends, and norms and outcomes of a close friendship were examined. This study used thematic content analysis to analyze the responses from the four groups. There were several similarities in the perceptions of close friendship across national groups and gender groups. For example, "trust" was mentioned by all four groups for the definition of a close friend and for the most important requirement in a close friendship. Differences in the perceptions of close friendship also appeared among the four groups. These differences could be influenced somewhat by cultural values and norms. For example, individualism, a doing-orientation, and femininity values may have affected Americans' definitions of a close friend in such categories as "expectations about other's character" and "shared activities." On the other hand, Japanese defined friendship as "comfort" and "mutual improvement." This may be indicative of collectivism and masculinity values. For the most important requirement of a dose friendship, American male respondents verbalized "interdependence" more than other groups, perhaps because of their strong individualistic value or femininity value. Only Japanese females described "empathy." This may be because of their strong collectivistic value or the social expectations of them in Japan. The results also suggested that it was more difficult to have a close friendship with the opposite gender in Japan than in the United States. This result could be explained by a strong masculinity orientation in Japan. In this study, results showed that national cultural groups shared more similarities than gender groups in the perceptions of close friendship, because national cultural groups\ud seemed to share more value orientations than gender groups