engleski

Dimensions of intimacy as determinant of quality of peer friendly relationships

A close and intimate relationship takes place in different kinds of relations: family, relatives, partners, friends, etc. In a friendly relationship it represents the basic determinant of relationship study. For intimacy to develop between friends, a process of self-revealing is necessary, in which friends share thoughts, emotions, fears and hopes with the goal to be understood and to understand each other. The quality of friendship is the term to describe the quality of interactions that reflect a friendly relationship. At determining the quality of friendship some authors focus on quantity indicators (number of close friendships), unlike the authors of this paper who focus on quality indicators, believing that quantity does not tell enough of experience in a friendly relationship. Therefore the friendship through the dimension of intimacy has been approached as quality relationship, in which individuals seek and fulfill certain social needs. Intimacy in a friendly relationship is classified according to Kakabadse i Kakabadse (2004) into several categories by which the authors differentiate between the following types of intimacy: physical emotional, cognitive and experimental. The authors consider it important to determine the type and degree of intimacy because the diagnostics provides important directions in pedagogic counseling activity. Since intimacy in a friendly relationship is a developmental category and since it differs as regards the age in which a friendship is being achieved, in this paper the authors have especially focused on the period which encompasses primary school students.

friendly relationship, intimacy, quality of friendship, self-revealing

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