Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Using a projective method with college students, this study assessed sex differences in the motivation to share personal concerns in a friendship context. As expected, women were found to be significantly more likely than men to imagine that they would confide worries to a friend (Intimacy Imagery). Women's Intimacy Imagery stories included positive outcomes significantly more often than did men's Intimacy Imagery stories, and the theme of self-enhancement as a consequence of confiding occurred in one-quarter of the women's Intimacy Imagery stories and in none of the men's. For men, Intimacy Imagery was associated with high social confidence and a strong preference for confiding in women. For women, stories suggesting avoidance of confiding or anxiety around confiding were associated with low social confidence.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alper

T. G.

(1974). Achievement motivation in college women: A now-you-see-it-now-you-don't phenomenon. American Psychologist, 29, 194–203

Altman

Taylor

D. A.

(1973). Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Booth

(1972). Sex and social participation. American Sociological Review, 37, 183–192

Cozby

P. C.

(1973). Self-disclosure: A literature review. Psychological Bulletin, 79, 73–91

Douvan

(1960). Sex differences in adolescent character processes. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 6, 203–211

Erikson

E. H.

(1950). Childhood and socity. New York: Norton

Fischer

J. L.

Narus

L. N.

Jr. (1981). Sex roles and intimacy in same-sex and other-sex relationships. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 5, 444–455

Jourard

S. M.

Richman

(1963). Factors in the self-disclosure input of college students. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 9, 141–148

Maccoby

Jacklin

(1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press

10.

Mark

E. W.

(1977). Sex differences in intimacy motivaton: A projective approach to the study of self-disclosure. (Doctoral dissertation, Boston College, 1976). Dissertation Abstracts International, 37 1040B. (University Microfilms No. 76–18,922.)

11.

Mark

E. W.

Alper

T. G.

(1980). Sex differences in intimacy motivation. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 5, 164–169

12.

Pleck

J. H.

(1981). The myth of masculinity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

13.

Waldrup

Halverson

(1975). Intensive and extensive peer behavior: Longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses. Child Development, 46, 19–26

Women,Men,and Intimacy Motivation

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References