A Measure for the Study of Friendship and Romantic Relationship Quality from Adolescence to Early-Adulthood

Friendship and romantic relationships are central to individual social life. These close relationships become increasingly significant during adolescence and early adulthood, promoting human development and well-being [1]. Despite their importance, there are no equivalent measures for the study of the quality of these different types of close relationships. The main aim of the present study was to develop an equivalent self-report measure to assess the quality of friendships and romantic relationships from adolescence to early adulthood. In Study 1 we took the Friendship Qualities Scale (FQS) developed by Bukowski, Hoza and Boivin [2] and adapted it for Italian adolescents and early-adults. The FQS reveals, via confirmatory factor analysis, five main qualitative dimensions: Conflict, Companionship, Help, Security and Closeness. In Study 2 we developed an equivalent version of the FQS, the Romance Qualities Scale (RQS) in order to measure the same five dimensions for romantic relationships. Data analyses verified the multidimensional factorial structure, the factorial invariance, and the reliability of both scales. Our studies therefore verify that the FQS and RQS are reliable measures to assess friendship and romantic relationship quality from adolescence to early adulthood.