ABSTRACT
Research and theory in personal relationships have developed considerably both in breadth and in sophistication. Most young and middle-aged adults are engaged in one or a number of intimate heterosexual relationships, and it may be argued that such commitments, especially marriage and family, take precedence over mere friendships in the apportioning of scarce temporal and psychological resources. The cliques study, being something of an ad hoc arrangement, was much more crude than the dyadic friendships aspect of the investigation. Contrary to a long-established trend in studies of personal relationships, general attitude similarity did not distinguish friendship dyads from nonfriend comparison pairs within the same group matched for gender and approximately for age. As in the dyad, group-related discussion constituted a main activity, and a high proportion of clique activities occurred in the context of alcohol consumption. Special circumstances such as acquisition of a video recorder by one dyad member led to deviations from parity of home visiting.
