Affective and physiological synchrony in friendships during late adolescence

Abstract

Dyadic synchrony within friendships examines the reciprocal exchange that may unfold between friends, such that the individuals within the dyad may share their emotions in response to or in anticipation of another’s emotions. Researchers have not examined synchrony in response to a stressor in late adolescents’ friendship dyads. This is surprising given the important role of friends in shaping social and emotional development. The current study examined affective and physiological synchrony within 50 college students who were in the developmental period of late adolescence (70% female, Mage = 18.85, SD = 0.80) and observed friendship characteristics (friendship quality and negative escalation) that might strengthen synchrony associations. Results suggested that friends shared negative and positive affect, cortisol, and salivary alpha amylase (sAA) responses across a laboratory paradigm designed to induce interpersonal stress. Characteristics associated with lower quality friendships were found to strengthen synchrony associations for sAA and cortisol responses. These findings extend previous research on the ways in which friends may be similar to one another and suggest potential interventions to strengthen social and emotional development.