Psicologia da amizade na infância: uma revisão crítica da literatura recente

This article presents a critical review of the recent literature about psychological aspects of friendship in childhood. A hundred articles, approximately, published in international indexed journals, from 1995 to 2003, have been selected and discussed. The themes present in these texts were organized in four thematic groups: 1) Methodological aspects; 2) Dimensions of analysis (including similarity and symmetry, processes of cooperation, competition, social support, conflict and aggressiveness); 3) Social networks (the child, its peers and friends) and context (family and school); 4) Special cases: physical and mental disability, rejection, negligence, abuse, depression and loneliness. The literature analyzed presents: a) diversified theoretical orientations and methodological strategies; b) lack of theoretical models of friendship or its aspects; c) lack of investigations in developing countries. Some possible empirical and theoretical research directions are proposed, including the investigation of friendship relations attributed to relatives, new dimensions of friendship at school and in the neighborhood, the increase in the number (and depth) of the investigated dimensions, besides the widening of the special cases to be considered in the studies about friendship, including disabled children and also children facing different stressful situations, such as physical disease or psychological problems. Keywords: friendship; childhood; personal relationships.