AFFILIATION MOTIVATION AND DAILY EXPERIENCE - SOME ISSUES ON GENDER DIFFERENCES

Study examined the relationship of affiliation motivation to related behaviors and quality of experience. Attention focused on how gender moderates such relationship. Ss were 170 teenagers. Daily functioning was recorded by the experience-sampling method. Affiliation and other personality characteristics were measured by the Personality Research Form and the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire. Highly affiliative Ss, regardless of sex, more often wished to be with friends and less often wished to be alone than less affiliative ones. However, regardless of affiliative orientation, girls actually spent more time with friends and less time alone than boys. Moreover, highly affiliative girls reported better moods than less affiliative girls, whereas highly affiliative boys reported worse experiential states than less affiliative boys in both situations. Results were interpreted as reflecting different social expectations concerning gender role behaviors.