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Friendship, perceived mattering and happiness: a study of American and Turkish college students
Melikşah Demir1, Ayça Ozen, Aysun Doğan
1Northern Arizona University, Psychology Department, PO. Box 15106, Flagstaff AZ 86011-5036, USA. md355@nau.edu
Abstract:
Although it is well established that friendship is a consistent correlate of happiness, less is known about how friendship experiences might promote happiness. The current investigation addressed this gap by testing a mediational model proposing that perceived mattering explains the association of friendship quality with happiness among college students in Turkey and the United States. An alternative model suggesting friendship quality as the mediator was also tested to enhance confidence in the proposed model. SEM analyses revealed that perceived mattering mediated the association of friendship with happiness only in the American sample. In the Turkish sample, friendship quality mediated the association between mattering and happiness. Findings highlight the importance of cross-cultural research and suggest that the underlying processes and psychological mechanisms related to the friendship-happiness link might be different in different cultures.
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