Vocal behavior in the dyadic interactions of preadolescent and early adolescent friends and acquaintances

Adolescence, Fall, 2002 by Stanley Feldstein, Tiffany Field

Our results suggest that the frequency, duration, and even the interpersonal coordination of interruptive behavior depend upon the social-relationship context within which it is used. In particular, whether the pairs of boys or girls in this study engaged in more ISS depended primarily upon whether they were friends or acquaintances. Even the interruptive behavior in mixed- or same-gender dyads appeared to differ as a function of whether the partners were friends or acquaintances. That there were no differences in interruptive behavior simply as a function of gender accords with the findings of Dindia (1987) and Crown and Cummins (1998), and the findings with regard to dyad gender are not at variance with those of Dindia (1987) or Natale, Entin, and Jaffe (1979). That there were no simple differences between the interruptive behaviors of boys and girls argues against the prevalent notion that interruptive behavior reflects interpersonal dominance, which is a second-order inference based upon men's alleged gre ater use of such behavior. It is also in line with the adult findings of Welkowitz, Bond, and Feldstein (1984b).

It may be more profitable to consider the interruptive behavior of the pre- and early adolescents in somewhat broader terms. Deaux (1977) proposed that the strategy of men in interactive contexts tends to be competitive whereas that of women tends to be affiliative. Although the constructs of competitiveness and dominance share certain attributes, to be competitive is not necessarily to be domineering. Might it be that the boys' more frequent use, and the girls' less frequent use of ISS and NSS when they were acquaintances reflect such strategies? It may well be that having to interact with acquaintances elicits competitive behaviors on the part of boys because of the inherent uncertainties about each other and the situation. But because the situation is an interpersonal one, the same uncertainties may elicit affiliative behavior on the part of girls. On the other hand, it may not be as necessary for boys to be as competitive, or for girls to be as affiliative when they are interacting with friends.

The finding that the girls engaged in more coordinated vocal behavior when they were acquaintances than when they were friends while the boys did the opposite presents an interesting comparison with the findings of a number of previous studies. Field and her colleagues (Field et al., 1992), using spectral analysis, found that there was greater coherence in the vocal behavior of pairs of acquaintances than of pairs of friends without regard to gender, which supports the present findings to some extent. Crown (1991) investigated the coordination of vocal timing in the conversations of college students who liked each other, disliked each other, and were unacquainted with each other. She found that the most coordination occurred in the conversations of the pairs who were unacquainted and the pairs who disliked each other. But all of her students were women. The results of the current study raise the question of whether the temporal coordination of men might be greater in their conversations with friends than with acquaintances.