Adolescent Intimacy: A Cross-Cultural Study

This study examined and compared perceptions of intimacy in friendships among Israeli Jewish and Israeli Bedouin adolescents. Questionnaires assessing perceived intimacy and self-disclosure in close friendships were completed by 288 Jewish and 327 Bedouin 7th-, 9th-, and 11th-grade students. Overall, results showed that intimacy was perceived to reflect a balance between closeness and individuality in close friendships. Yet Jewish and Bedouin adolescents reported on distinctive patterns of balancing closeness and individuality. Jewish adolescents, as opposed to Bedouin adolescents, perceived less of a need to control or to try to be similar to each other in friendships. Bedouin adolescents tended to emphasize control of and conformity to friends. Age and sex differences in the Jewish and Bedouin cohorts reflected the interplay of developmental and cross-cultural aspects of intimacy in adolescence. The results underscore the salience of intimacy for peer relations during the adolescent years and indicate the importance of understanding close friendships within this cultural context.