Elementos caracterizadores das representações sociais da amizade para universitários

Abstract

Among the modalities of interpersonal relationships, friendship emerges as one of the most significant, considering the values ​​and behaviors associated with what is expected in a relationship of friendship. The objective of this study was to identify the characterizing elements of the social representations of friendship for university students. The sample comprised 120 students, of both sexes, and a semidirectional interview was used to collect the data, complemented by questions of characterization of the sample. The interviews were organized in a corpus, submitted to a Hierarchical Descending Classification, with the aid of IRaMuTeQ software. The results indicated differences between the sexes, with the female group presenting a greater amount of elements associated with friendship, while the emphasis on friendship between males is associated more with confidence and companionship among peers. It is emphasized that both sexes consider trust and companionship equally important. The data allow us to identify representational patterns that influence expectations and actions in relation to behaviors associated with friendship.