Gossip (evaluative talk about others) is ubiquitous. Gossip allows important rules to be clarified and reinforced, and it allows individuals to keep track of their social networks while strengthening their bonds to the group. The purpose of this study is to decipher the nature of gossip and how it relates to friendship connections. To measure how gossip relates to friendship, participants from men’s and women’s collegiate competitive rowing (crew) teams (N = 44) noted their friendship connections and their tendencies to gossip about each of their teammates. Using social network analysis, we found that the crew members’ friend group connectedness significantly correlated with their positive and negative gossip network involvement. Higher connectedness among friends was associated with less involvement in spreading negative gossip and/or being a target of negative gossip. More central connectedness to the friend group was associated with more involvement in spreading positive gossip and/or being a target of positive gossip. These results suggest that the spread of both positive and negative gossip may influence and be influenced by friendship connections in a social network.

八卦（对他人的评价性谈话）无处不在。八卦可以澄清和加强重要规则，它允许个人跟踪他们的社交网络，同时加强他们与团体的联系。这项研究的目的是破译八卦的本质以及它与友谊关系的关系。为了衡量八卦与友谊的关系，来自男子和女子大学竞技赛艇（船员）队的参与者（N = 44) 注意到他们的友谊关系以及他们对每个队友八卦的倾向。使用社交网络分析，我们发现船员的朋友群联系与他们积极和消极的八卦网络参与显着相关。朋友之间较高的联系与较少参与传播负面八卦和/或成为负面八卦的目标有关。与朋友群体的更多中心联系与更多地参与传播积极的八卦和/或成为积极八卦的目标有关。这些结果表明，正面和负面八卦的传播可能会影响社交网络中的友谊关系，并受其影响。