... friendship as a close relationship between two particular individuals, as indicated by their association together or their psychological attachment and trust. This description refers to a reciprocal friendship, whereas Rawlins (1992) describes the characteristics of a close friend in a rather unilateral way as somebody to talk to, to depend upon, rely on for help, support and caring, have fun and enjoy doing things together. There have been numerous endeavours to identify common characteristics that would comprehend the variation in the perception on friendship. Newcomb and Bagwell (1995) identified five particular features of friendship by comparing children's and adolescents' relations to their friends and to non-friends. It was found that their relations to friends were based more on reciprocity and intimacy; they had been having more intense social activity and more frequent conflict resolution; also more effective task performance was found among friend peers. Sharabany (1994) structured the concept of 'close ...

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