Much research in network analysis of adolescent friendships assumes that friendships represent liking and social interaction, friendships are directed, and friendships are equivalent to one another. This study investigates the meaning of friendship for eight diverse cohorts of sixth graders. Analysis of focus group and survey data suggests that these adolescents construe friendship as a multidimensional role relation composed primarily of relational norms, expectations for mutual behavior. Their friendship definitions may also include mutual liking and interaction, and other structural expectations such as reciprocity, homophily, and transitivity. Lastly, boys and girls weight these dimensions differently in defining friendship.

青少年友谊网络分析的许多研究假设友谊代表喜欢和社会互动，友谊是有方向的，并且友谊是彼此等价的。本研究调查了八组不同的六年级学生友谊的意义。对焦点小组和调查数据的分析表明，这些青少年将友谊理解为一种多维角色关系，主要由关系规范和对相互行为的期望组成。他们的友谊定义还可能包括相互喜欢和互动，以及其他结构性期望，例如互惠性、同质性和传递性。最后，男孩和女孩在定义友谊时对这些维度的重视程度不同。