Exploring like-attracts-like friendships in diagnosed and self-diagnosed populations: a description of 2 systematic reviews

INTRODUCTION

Homophilic selection is the tendency for an individual to affiliate with and befriend peers who initially are similar to themselves on a variety of behavioral and physical characteristics [1]. This paper presents 2 systematic reviews exploring homophilic (friendship) selection: amongst individuals with a diagnosed psychiatric condition, and amongst individuals who self-diagnose. Both reviews aim to identify existing literature on the subject and to argue in support of further research in this area.

METHODS

The first review, 'Do individuals with a diagnosed psychiatric condition exhibit homophilic friendship selection?', began with a two-wave database search of PsycINFO, Medline, and Embase from December 7th 2023 to August 7th 2024 via Ovid. A citation search of the accepted papers conducted independently by 3 authors produced 17 papers out of 24,546 screened against a detailed eligibility criteria.

RESULTS AND CONLUSION

Publications studying depression observed homophilic selection reliably (12,642 participants across 12 papers were recruited to investigate homophilic selection and depression). However, conditions like anxiety were largely exempt from investigation, as was the consideration of ethnic background and age, which is discussed to be an oversight.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The second review, 'Do individuals with a self-diagnosed psychiatric condition exhibit homophilic friendship selection?', was conducted via the same method on August 8th 2024 to produce no papers fulfilling the single eligibility criterion 'any friendship behaviour in individuals with a self-diagnosed mental illness'.

CONCLUSION

There is a complete absence of research into the friendship behaviours of the self-diagnosing mental health population. Given the increasing number of individuals across psychiatric conditions who currently self-diagnose, such research has a considerable academic and clinical value, which is discussed.

Social network analysis in social psychological ressearch (1990-2020): A scoping review

Over the last two decades, Social Network Analysis (SNA) has become a standard tool in various social science disciplines. In social psychology, however, the use of SNA methodology remains scarce. This research identifies gaps in SNA use in Social Psychology and offers pathways for its further development. It reviews all empirical papers using SNA published in high-ranking social psychology journals over the last three decades. Findings reveal that SNA has been used across striking diversity of fields and subdomains central to the discipline, confirming its relevance for any field in Social Psychology in which the role of interpersonal or intergroup relationships is central to understand psychological and behavioural outcomes. However, the use of SNA in Social Psychology has been mostly limited to non-experimental and non-longitudinal studies, using student samples and with a focus on basic measurements of network structures such as density and centrality. The contributions of SNA to the understanding of psychosocial mechanisms have therefore remained modest. We propose several strategies by which such gaps can be filled in future research and the full potential of SNA for social psychology realized.

Shyness and Psychological Maladjustment in Chinese Adolescents: Selection and Influence Processes in Friendship Networks

Few studies have been conducted to examine the role shyness plays in friendship selection and influences processes, particularly how befriending shy peers affects individual's psychological adjustment. To address these gaps, this study investigated the selection, de-selection, same behavior influence effects of shyness in the friendship network in Chinese adolescents using the longitudinal social network analysis. It also explored the possible pathways that transmit indirect influences of friends' shyness to individual's psychological maladjustments (i.e., loneliness and depressive symptoms). A sample of adolescents (N = 1254, 48.4% girls, M_age = 13.20 years at Time 1) were followed for three years in middle schools. The results showed that adolescents tended to befriend those who had similar shyness level during T1-T2 interval, but the friendships between shy friends were more likely to terminate during T2-T3 interval. Moreover, adolescents were found to become more similar with their friends in shyness over time. The study also found that friends' shyness at T1 would influence individual's loneliness at T3 via 1) increasing friends' loneliness at T2 or 2) increasing individual's shyness level at T2. Those two pathways, however, were not found for depressive symptoms. These findings indicate that shyness plays an important role in the friendship formation and dissolution and befriending shy peers may have implications for adolescents' development of shyness and loneliness.

Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms and the "Tightknittedness" of Friendship Groups

Adolescents with depression have lower peer status overall, but tend to befriend each other. We examined the "tightknittedness" of their friendship groups by testing whether adolescent friendship groups' average levels of or variability in internalizing symptoms predict group cohesiveness. We used four waves (9th-12th grades) of survey and social network data on 3,013 friendship groups from the PROmoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience study. Friendship groups with higher average depressive symptoms were less cohesive; groups with higher average anxiety symptoms had greater reciprocity. Groups with greater variability in depressive symptoms had greater density; variability in anxiety symptoms was not consistently associated with cohesion. The friendship groups of depressed adolescents appear less cohesive than the "typical" adolescent friendship group.

Positive Peer Association Among Black American Youth and the Roles of Ethnic Identity and Gender

The study examined whether peer association, a subtype of peer influence that involves the indirect modeling of behaviors, can promote positive development among Black American adolescents living in high-risk neighborhoods. Data were collected during a three-year longitudinal study from a sample of 316 Black American adolescents (M = 11.65 years). As positive peer association increased over time, youth experienced an increase in self-esteem, school connectedness, paternal and maternal closeness, and a decrease in supportive beliefs about aggression. Additionally, lower ethnic identity appeared to account for why some youth experienced a sharper increase in maternal and paternal closeness as positive peer association increased. Future interventions should consider harnessing the ability of prosocial peers to foster healthy development.

Friendship context matters: examining the domain specificity of alcohol and depression socialization among adolescents

Driven by existing socialization theories, this study describes specific friendship contexts in which peer influence of alcohol misuse and depressive symptoms occurs. In the fall and spring of the school year, surveys were administered to 704 Italian adolescents (53 % male, M (age) = 15.53) enrolled in Grades 9, 10 and 11. Different friendship contexts were distinguished based on two dimensions referring to the level (i.e., best friendships and friendship networks) and reciprocity (i.e., unilateral and reciprocal) of the relationships. Social network and dyadic analyses were applied in a complementary manner to estimate peer socialization effects across the different friendship contexts. Results showed that within friendship networks both male and female adolescents' alcohol misuse was affected by friends' alcohol misuse, regardless of whether the relationship was reciprocated or not. Conversely, peer socialization of depressive symptoms only emerged within very best friendship dyads of female adolescents. Findings suggest that the effects of peer socialization depend on the friendship context and specific types of behaviors. The theoretical and methodological implications of the findings are discussed.