Although satisfying friendships are crucial for well-being throughout adulthood, measures of friendship satisfaction have been limited by: (1) item content relevant to children only, (2) a focus on single relationships rather than the friendship network, and (3) disagreement about the number of dimensions necessary to capture the construct. To overcome these limitations, we assembled an item pool from a number of existing measures, created additional items drawn from research on friendships, and then examined the structure and psychometric properties of those items in two online surveys of over 2000 respondents each. Factor analyses consistently identified two correlated factors—closeness and socializing—but bi-factor modeling revealed that scores on both subscales load strongly on a general factor, suggesting that the multifaceted content can be scored efficiently as a unidimensional composite. Analyses using item response theory (IRT) supported the creation of a reliable 14-item instrument that demonstrated adequate convergent and predictive validity. Thus, the Friendship Network Satisfaction (FNS) Scale is a psychometrically sound tool to advance research on friendships across the lifespan.
AntonucciT. C.AjrouchK. J.BirdittK. S. (2013). The convoy model: Explaining social relations from a multidisciplinary perspective. The Gerontologist, 54(1), 82–92. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnt118
2.
BirdittK. S.AntonucciT. C. (2007). Relationship quality profiles and well-being among married adults. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(4), 595–604. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.595
3.
BonifayW. E. (2015). An illustration of the two-tier item factor analysis model. In ReisS. P.RevickiD. I. (Eds.), Handbook of item-response theory modeling (pp. 225–243). Routledge.
4.
BukowskiW. M.HozaB.BoivinM. (1994). Measuring friendship quality during pre- and early adolescence: The development and psychometric properties of the Friendship Qualities Scale. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 11(3), 471–484. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407594113011
5.
CapraraG. V.ZelliA.CapannaC. (2005). A new scale for measuring adults’ prosocialness. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 21(2), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759.21.2.77
6.
CharlesN.DaviesC.HarrisC. C. (2008). Families in transition: Social change, family formation and kin relationships. Policy Press.
7.
ChenF. F.JingY.HayesA.LeeJ. M. (2013). Two concepts or two approaches? A bifactor analysis of psychological and subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(3), 1033–1068. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9367-x
8.
CohenS.KamarckT.MermelsteinR. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385–396. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136404
9.
CostelloA. B.OsborneJ. W. (2005). Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: Four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 10(7), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.7275/jyj1-4868
10.
DemirM.ÖzdemirM.WeitekampL. A. (2015). Friendship and happiness among young adults. In DemirM. (Ed.), Friendships and happiness—Across the life-span and cultures (pp. 117–135). Springer.
11.
DienerE.EmmonsR. A.LarsonR. J.GriffinS. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
FehrB.HarasymchukC. (2018). The role of friendship in well-being. In MadduxJ. E. (Ed.), Subjective well-being and life satisfaction. Routledge.
15.
FehrB.HarasymchukC. (2019). Friendships—Close relationships throughout the life course. In SchoebiD.CamposB. (Eds.), New directions in the psychology of close relationships. Routledge.
16.
FinchamF. D.LinfieldK. J. (1997). A new look at marital quality: Can spouses feel positive and negative about their marriage?Journal of Family Psychology, 11, 489–502. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.11.4.489-502
17.
FioriK. L.DencklaC. A. (2015). Friendship and happiness among middle-aged adults. In DemirM. (Ed.), Friendship and happiness—Across the life-span and cultures (pp. 137–154). Springer.
18.
FullerH. R.AjrouchK. J.AntonucciT. C. (2020). Original voices the convoy model and later-life family relationships. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 12(2), 126–146. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12376
19.
FunkJ. L.RoggeR. D. (2007). Testing the ruler with item response theory: Increasing precision of measurement for relationship satisfaction with the Couples Satisfaction Index. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(4), 572–583. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.572
20.
GoldbergL. R. (2006). Doing it all bass-ackwards: The development of hierarchical factor structures from the top down. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(4), 347–358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2006.01.001
GustafssonJ. E.Aberg-BengtssonL. (2010). Unidimensionality and interpretability of psychological instruments. In EmbretsonS. E. (Ed.), Measuring psychological constructs: Advances in model-based approaches (pp. 97–121). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/12074-005
23.
HallJ. A. (2012). Friendship standards: The dimensions of ideal expectations. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 29(7), 884–907. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407512448274
24.
HarakehZ.EngelsR. C. M. E.VermulstA. A.De VriesH.ScholteR. H. J. (2007). The influence of best friends and siblings on adolescent smoking: A longitudinal study. Psychology & Health, 22(3), 269–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/14768320600843218
25.
HenselerJ.RingleC. M.SarstedtM. (2014). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8
26.
Holt-LunstadJ.SmithT. B.BakerM.HarrisT.StephensonD. (2015). Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: A meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227–237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691614568352
27.
HuxholdO. (2019). Gauging effects of historical differences on aging trajectories: The increasing importance of friendships. Psychology and Aging, 34(8), 1170–1184. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000390
KahnR. L.AntonucciT. C. (1980). Convoys over the life course: Attachment, roles, and social support. In BaltesP. B.BrimO. (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (Vol. 3, pp. 253–286). Academic Press.
30.
KyriazosT. A.StalikasA. (2018). Applied psychometrics: The steps of scale development and standardization process. Psychology, 9(11), 2531–2560. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2018.911145
31.
La GuardiaJ. G.RyanR. M.CouchmanC. E.DeciE. L. (2000). Within-person variation in security of attachment: A self-determination theory perspective on attachment, need fulfillment, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(3), 367–384. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.79.3367
32.
LedbetterA. M.GriffinE. M.SparksG. (2007). Forecasting “friends forever”: A longitudinal investigation of sustained closeness between best friends. Personal Relationships, 14(2), 343–350. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00158.x
33.
LewisD. M. G.Al-ShawafL.RussellE. M.BussD. M. (2015). Friends and happiness: An evolutionary perspective on friendship. In DemirM. (Ed.), Friendship and happiness (pp. 37–57). Springer.
34.
LynchS. (2015). Friendship and happiness from a philosophical perspective. In DemirM. (Ed.), Friendship and happiness—Across the life-span and cultures (pp. 1–18). Springer.
MansolfM.ReiseS. P. (2016). Exploratory bifactor analysis: The Schmid-Leiman orthogonalization and Jennrich-Bentler analytic rotations. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 51(5), 698–717. https://doi.org/10.1080/00273171.2016.1215898
37.
MendelsonM. J.AboudF. E. (1999). Measuring friendship quality in late adolescents and young adults: McGill Friendship Questionnaires. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 31, 130–132. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/h0087080
OlsonD. H. (1982). Family inventories: Inventories used in a national survey of families across the life cycle. In OlsonD. H.McCubbinH. I.BarnesH.LarsenA.MuxenM.WilsonM. (Eds.), Family social science (pp. 25–31). University of Minnesota.
40.
ParkerJ. G.AsherS. R. (1993). Friendship and friendship quality in middle childhood: Links with peer group acceptance and feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction. Developmental Psychology, 29, 611–621. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.29.4.611
41.
PrinsteinM. J.MeadeC. S.CohenG. L. (2003). Adolescent oral sex, peer popularity, and perceptions of best friends’ sexual behavior. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 28(4), 243–249. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsg012
42.
ReisH. T. (2001). Relationship experiences and emotional well-being. In RyffC. D.SingerB. H. (Eds.), Emotion, social, relationships and health. Oxford University Press.
43.
ReisH. T.CrastaD.RoggeR. D.ManiaciM. R.CarmichaelC. L. (2017). Perceived Partner Responsiveness Scale (PPRS). In BodieG. D.WorthingtonD. L. (Eds.), The sourcebook of listening research: Methodology and measures (pp. 516–521). Wiley Blackwell.
ReiseS. P.MooreT. M.HavilandM. G. (2010). Bifactor models and rotations: Exploring the extent to which multidimensionality data yield univocal scale scores. Journal of Personality Assessment, 92(6), 544–559. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2010.496477
46.
ReiseS. P.MorizorJ.HaysR. (2007). The role of the bifactor model in resolving dimensionality issues in health related measures. Quality of Life Research, 16, 19–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-007-9183-7
RevickiD. A.ChenW.TuckerC. (2015). Developing item banks for patient-reported health outcomes. Routledge.
49.
RodriguezA.ReiseS. P.HavilandM. G. (2016). Evaluating bifactor models: Calculating and interpreting statistical indices. Psychological Methods, 27(2), 137–150. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000045
50.
RoggeR. D.FinchamF. D.CrastaD.ManiaciM. R. (2017). Positive and negative evaluation of relationships: Development and validation of the Positive–Negative Relationship Quality (PN-RQ) Scale. Psychological Assessment, 29(8), 1028–1043. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000392
51.
RosenbergM. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. University Press.
52.
RussellD. W. (1996). UCLA Loneliness Scale (version 3): Reliability, validity, and factor structure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66(1), 20–40. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa6601_2
53.
SaldarriagaL. M.BukowskiW. M.GrecoC. (2015). Friendship and happiness: A bidirectional dynamic process. In DemirM. (Ed.), Friendship and happiness (pp. 59–78). Springer.
SharabanyR. (1994). Intimate Friendship Scale: Conceptual underpinnings, psychometric properties and construct validity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 11(3), 449–469. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407594113010
56.
SmallM. L. (2013). Weak ties and the core discussion network: Why people regularly discuss important matters with unimportant alters. Social Networks, 35(3), 470–483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2013.05.004
TellegenA.WallerN. G. (2008). Exploring personality through test construction: Development of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. In BoyleG. J.MatthewsG.SaklofskeD. H. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment (Vol. 2, pp. 261–292). SAGE.
59.
TolandM. D.SulisI.GiambonaF.PorcuM.CampbellJ. M. (2017). Introduction to bifactor polytomous item response theory analysis. Journal of School Psychology, 60, 41–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2016.11.001
van der MaasH. L. J.MolenaarD.MarisG.KievitR. A.BorsboomD. (2011). Cognitive psychology meets psychometric theory: On the relation between process models for decision making and latent variable models for individual differences. Psychological Review, 118(2), 339–356. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022749
62.
VernonM. (2005). The philosophy of friendship. Palgrave Macmillan.
63.
WallerN. G. (2018). Direct Schmid-Leiman transformations and rank-deficient loadings matrices. Psychometrika, 83(4), 858–870. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11336-017-9599-0
64.
WangH.WellmanB. (2010). Social connectivity in America: Changes in adult friendship network size from 2002 to 2007. American Behavioral Scientist, 53(8), 1148–1169. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764209356247
65.
WeissR. L. (1980). Strategic behavioral marital therapy: Toward a model for assessment and intervention. In VincentJ. P. (Ed.), Advances in family intervention, assessment, and theory (Vol. 1, pp. 229–271). JAI Press.
66.
WhiteA. M.PhilogeneG. S.FineL.SinhaS. (2009). Social support and self-reported health status of older adults in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 99(10), 1872–1878. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2008.146894
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
