Contingencies of Self-Worth and Achievement Goals: Predictors of Friendship Satisfaction

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Contingencies of Self-Worth and Achievement
Goals Predictors of Friendship Satisfaction

• Amy K. Till
• Hanover College

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Friendship

• Studies show that friends are similar on several
  demographic and behavioral characteristics (e.g.
  Berndt, 1999).
• Little research has been conducted on whether
  friends share similar beliefs or whether these
  similarities predict friendship satisfaction
  (e.g. Ryan, 2001).

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Contingencies of Self-Worth

• CSW represent domains in which people want to
  succeed (Crocker et al., 2003).
• CSW predict the types of activities in which
  people engage (Crocker, 2002).
• Example Sara bases her self-worth on Gods Love
  and often goes on mission trips.

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Contingencies of Self-Worth

• Approval from Others
• Physical Appearance
• School Competency
• Family Support
• Gods Love
• Competition
• Virtue

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Achievement Goals

• Achievement goals represent a persons immediate
  achievement-related focus (Eccles et al., 1998).
• Achievement goals predict the types of activities
  in which people engage (Ames, 1992).
• Example Bob wants to get an A in his classes, so
  he studies for many hours every day.

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Types of Achievement Goals

• Work Avoidance Goals
• Performance Goals
• Mastery Goals

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Friendship Satisfaction

• Happiness
• Intimacy
• Lack of Conflict
• Example Katie and Jamie both base their
  self-worth on physical appearance therefore,
  they spend time shopping and grooming together.
  Their similarity makes them feel happy in their
  friendship.

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Research Questions

• Do friends share similar beliefs?
• Do friends with similar beliefs have higher rates
  of friendship satisfaction than friends with
  different beliefs?
• Are some discrepancies in beliefs more important
  in determining friendship satisfaction than
  others?

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Participants

• Small, Midwestern Liberal Arts College
• Participants 80 Total
• Males 18
• Females 62
• Friendship Pairs 40 Total
• Same-sex 38
• Different-sex 2
• Age Range 18-22 years old

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Measures

• CSW 35-item questionnaire
• Example I feel worthwhile when I have Gods
  love.
• Goals 15-item questionnaire
• Example I want to feel involved in the process
  of learning.
• Satisfaction 13-item questionnaire
• Example My friend cares about my feelings.

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Internal ReliabilityContingencies of Self-Worth
Friend A
Friend B
Approval from Others a .85 a .87
Physical Appearance a .77 a .80
School Competency a .92 a .87
Family Support a .71 a .82
Gods Love a .96 a .96
Competition a .91 a .86
Virtue a .92 a .78
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Internal ReliabilityAchievement Goals
Friend A
Friend B
Performance Goals a .75 a .90
Work Avoidance a .58 a .57
Mastery Goals a .84 a .87
Friendship Satisfaction
Friend A
Friend B
Friendship Satisfaction a .74 a .70
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Similarities in Contingencies of Self-Worth

• Approval r .44, p .004
• Virtue r .32, p .04
• Appearance r .28, p .07
• Gods Love r .27, p .09

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Similarities in Achievement Goals

• Performance Goals r .43, p .01
• Work Avoidance r .35, p .03
• Mastery Goals r .30, p .06

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Similarity and Friendship Duration

• Will friends be more likely to have similar
  beliefs the longer they are friends?
• Created two categories
• Short Duration lt 24 months (n 19)
• Long Duration gt 24 months (n 21)

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Similarity and Friendship Duration
Short Duration Long Duration
Approval from Others .03 .69
z -2.38, p .01
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Similarity and Friendship Satisfaction

• Work Avoidance Goals r -.33, p .04
• A possible explanation Friends who avoid their
  schoolwork may feel badly about themselves, which
  could negatively affect their friendship.

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Discussion

• Results indicate that friends share some CSW and
  some achievement goals.
• Results do not support the hypothesis that
  similarity predicts satisfaction.
• Friends should not be similar in all beliefs and
  similarities should not always predict
  satisfaction.

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Future Research

• Measure both the friends beliefs and the
  activities in which they participate in order to
  get an internal and external view of friendships.

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Questions