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I am so Happy ‘Cause my Best Friend is There for me When Things go Right: Friendship and Happiness Among Emerging Adults in Algeria and Slovakia

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Abstract

Emerging adults share positive events in their lives with their friends. Past research has shown that those who perceive the responses they receive from their friends as positive upon sharing a positive event experience higher levels of happiness. However, the process accounting for this association is not addressed. The present study addressed this gap in the literature by proposing that friendship quality explains why perceived responses to capitalization attempts are related to happiness. Emerging adults in Algeria (n = 282) and Slovakia (n = 349) participated in the study. Results showed that perceiving the same-sex friend supportive of one’s positive experiences was related to friendship quality, which in turn predicted happiness in both cultures. The contribution of the findings to the literature is discussed and suggestions for future research are presented.

The contribution of authors other than the corresponding author was equal and are ordered alphabetically.

The authors would like to thank Nabilah Khellal and Mohammad Lahresh for their help in gathering the data in Algeria. The authors would also like to thank Erin Hanks for her comments on the manuscript.

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Demir, M., Achoui, M., Šimonek, J. (2015). I am so Happy ‘Cause my Best Friend is There for me When Things go Right: Friendship and Happiness Among Emerging Adults in Algeria and Slovakia. In: Demir, M. (eds) Friendship and Happiness. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9603-3_18

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