PERCEIVED INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP AS A QUASI-THERAPEUTIC AGENT

Considered the difference between students in counseling and not in counseling with regard to quality of relationship with intimate friends and the tendency to use intimate friends as therapeutic agents. Ss were 100 highly anxious undergraduates. CHI2 analyses and analysis of variance were used to test the (1) the significance of differences between various aspects of a friend relationship (2) frequencies of using a friend for help with problems and (3) considering a friend as being of most help with problems. Females were found to form more intimate friendships than males but no group differences (.05) were found with regard to the quality of friend relationship or in using friends therapeutically. Intimate friends tended to be more accessible to the noncounseling Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.