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Friendship quality in adolescents with and without an intellectual disability
- Authors:
- TIPTON Leigh A., CHRISTENSEN Lisa, BLACHER Jan
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 26(6), 2013, pp.522-532.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
In order to examine differences in friendship quality between children with and without intellectual disabilities and early indicators of friendship development, 103 13-year-old adolescents with or without intellectual disabilities in the United States and their mothers took part participated in an open-ended interview of friendship quality. They also completed measures of social skills and behaviour problems. Adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) had friendships characterized by significantly lower levels of warmth/closeness and positive reciprocity than their typically developing peers. Likewise, adolescents with ID spent less time with friends outside of school and were less likely to have a cohesive group of friends. Social skills and behaviour problems at age 9 predicted friendship quality at age 13 above and beyond disability status, with higher levels of social skills and lower levels of behaviour problems related to higher ratings on measures of friendship quality. It appears that adolescents with intellectual disabilities have friendships that are characterized by less warmth/closeness and less positive reciprocity than the friendships of their typically developing peers. This discrepancy appears to be impacted by early social skills and behaviour problems in addition to the presence of the intellectual disability. (Edited publisher abstract)