The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among self-determined friendship motivation (motivation for friendship formation), aggression, and self-esteem in a sample of 262 Japanese university students. The hypothetical model posited that self-determined friendship motivation predicted lower levels of aggression, which, in turn, predicted lower levels of self-esteem. The results showed that self-determined friendship motivation predicted lower levels of anger, hostility, and physical aggression and that hostility and anger predicted lower levels of self-esteem. Verbal aggression was found to be positively associated with self-determined friendship motivation and self-esteem. The different relationships between self-determined friendship motivation and each facet of aggression are discussed.
KeywordsFriendship MotivationAggressionSelf-EsteemSelf-Determination Theory
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