Exploring Within-Gender Differences in Friendships Using an Online Social Network.
People tend to befriend others similar to themselves, generating a pattern called homophily. However, existing studies on friendship patterns often rely on surveys that assess the perspective of relatively few participants on their friendships but do not measure actualized friendship patterns. Here,...
| Published in: | Archives of Sexual Behavior Vol. 53; no. 8; pp. 3187 - 3202 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
Aug2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=179142777&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 179142777 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00040002 ASX jtl: Archives of Sexual Behavior issn: 00040002 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2024 vid: 53 iid: 8 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 179142777 10.1007/s10508-024-02906-5 ppf: 3187 ppct: 15 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 5.2MB tig: atl: Exploring Within-Gender Differences in Friendships Using an Online Social Network. aug: au: Pollo, Pietro Reynolds, Tania A. Blake, Khandis R. Kasumovic, Michael M. affil: Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, 5 Floor, Building E26, 2052, Kensington, NSW, Australia https://ror.org/05fs6jp91 Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA https://ror.org/01ej9dk98 Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia su: Gender differences (Sociology) Friendship Body image Gender Age Online social networks Evolutionary psychology Body mass index sug: subj: Gender differences (Sociology) Friendship Body image Gender Age Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals Online social networks Evolutionary psychology Body mass index keyword: Female competition Friendship preference Intra-gender competition Mating rivalry Female competition Friendship preference Intra-gender competition Mating rivalry ab: People tend to befriend others similar to themselves, generating a pattern called homophily. However, existing studies on friendship patterns often rely on surveys that assess the perspective of relatively few participants on their friendships but do not measure actualized friendship patterns. Here, we used data from a large Slovakian online social network to assess the role of gender, age, and body mass index (BMI) in same-gender online connections among more than 400,000 users. We found that age and BMI homophily occurred in both men's and women's same-gender connections, but somewhat more strongly among men's. Yet, as women diverged in BMI, their connections were less likely to be reciprocated. We discuss how the evolutionary legacy of men's coalitional competition (e.g., warfare) and women's mating competition or recruitment of allocare providers might contribute to these patterns in modern same-gender relationships. For example, men's engagement in physical activities may lead to similar formidability levels among their same-gender peers. Altogether, our findings highlight the importance of trait similarity to same-gender friendship patterns. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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