Influence of Gender & Gender Roles on Friendship Patterns

The purpose of this research was to study the effects of sex and gender role on friendship patterns between both sexes and the main question of this project is: do gender roles have an effect on friendship patterns? A sample of 197 female students and 138 male students from the University of Tehran were selected to participate in the study. The methods used in this research were two questionnaires of the Friendship Quality (Hejaze، 1996) and Sex Role Inventory (Bem، 1981). Data was analyzed using independent t-test and correlation chi square. The results of the study showed that there is a meaningful connection between gender and friendship pattern، for example، the women are more intimate with their friends and، therefore، are more satisfied، whereas men are more trusting of their friends. Additionally، the findings do not indicate any meaningful connection between gender roles and friendship patterns. In fact gender role cannot predict friendship patterns.