Friendship

Definition of Friendship

According to Rubin (2004), friendship is multidimensional in nature and serve human beings in various ways (such as joy, hope and fear, providing affection, support and emotional security). Friendship is a relationship where is two people spending time together, interact in various situations, and providing their emotional support. (Baron & Bryne, 2006).

Friendship according to Rawlins in Tillmann-Healy (2003) "show you the ropes affective (affective ties implies)". A friend, we are looking for trust (trust), honesty, respect, commitment, security, support, generosity, loyalty, togetherness, strength, understanding, and acceptance.

In the book Child and Adolescent Development, Owens (2002) defines friendship it related to the construction of dyadic relationship between two children is characterized by strong feelings of mutual love.

According to Shaffer (2005), friendship is defined as a strong and last a long time between two individuals are characterized by fidelity, intimacy, and love each other.

Friendship is a form of close relationship that involves enjoyment, acceptance, trust, respect, mutual help, telling secrets, understanding, and spontaneity (Santrock, 2002).

Development of Friendship

In children under 8 years of age, the basic principles for friendship is the common activity (joint activity), in which the children looked at a friend is someone who loves them and happy to play the same activity.

In children aged 8-10 years, there have been role-taking skill ability (skill to take the role), as individuals begin to see a friend who has one similar psychological, trustworthy, loyal, kind, cooperative, and sensitive to the feelings and needs of each another (Berndt in Shaffer, 2005). Although the thought of loyalty and psychological attributes of the same that was shown to friends is also found in adolescents, but adolescent conception of reciprocal friendship is more focused on emotional commitment (emotionally committed to each other). Viewed as a close friend of a friend who really understood each other's strengths, weaknesses can accept each other, and are willing to share their thoughts and feelings (Hartup in Shaffer, 2005).

Although children have many friends, but few of these friendships become close friends. In the observation Gottman (1983), he finds some important differences when playing the eventual friends (friends) and nonfriends (not friends). First, although friends do not always agree on which game to be played, but they can cope with the conflict better than non-friends. Friend is more successful in communicating something and exchange information with each other.

Some of the information conveyed are personal friends, and friends are better able to involve self-disclosure (self-disclosure). In adolescents, the emphasis is their loyalty in friendship. They believe that friends should defend each other and friends should not deceive or leave each other. The emphasis on fidelity in adolescent friendship seems also in line with the emphasis on intimacy which, if not faithful friends, teens feel the fear of humiliation because of their intimate thoughts and feelings be known by many people. The emergence of intimacy in adolescent friendships indicates that friends are a source of social and emotional support (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2000).

Importance of Friendship

Friendship has six functions (Gottman and Parker, 1987):

a. Companionship is friendship gives children the intimate partner, someone who would like to spend time with them and participate in activities that require cooperation.
b. Stimulation is friendship give teens the information fun, enjoyment and entertainment.
c. Physical support is friendly to give time, resources, and assistance.
d. Ego support is friendly to providing support, encouragement, and feedback that can help children keep their impact as a competent, attractive, and individually priced.
e. Social comparison is a friendship to provide information about when they face the opponent and when they do something well.
f. Intimacy / affection was friendship provide a warm relationship, closed, can trust the other person, a relationship with self disclosure (self-disclosure).

Friendship characteristics
  Parlee (in Santrock, 2002) give characteristics of friendship as follows:
a. Pleasure that is we like to spend time with our friends.
b. Namely acceptance we receive our friends without trying to change them.
c. Believe that is we assume that our friends will do something to suit our convenience.
d. Respect that is we have thoughts that friends we make good decisions.
e. That is we help each other help and support our friends and they also do the same.
f. Namely the tricks we share experiences and problems that is private to friends.
g. Meaning that is we feel that our friends know us well and understand what our existence.
h. Spontaneity that is we feel free to be ourselves when we are close friends.

Source : Purwanita, Dhita Ira. (2010). Kontribusi Kualitas Persahabatan (Friendship Quality) terhadap Kesepian (Loneliness) pada Remaja Awal (Skripsi S. Psi). Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia.