Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore how "commu - phobic tendency" related to the characteristics of friendship patterns among contemporary college students. Cluster analysis was used for variables concerning anthropophobic - and commu - phobic tendency, and four large clusters were found. Students in Cluster 1 showed a high level of anxiety toward emotionally close friends. They were also high on a subscale of the friendship - pattern measure, which measured the tendency to avoid intimacy with others. Unlike them, those in Cluster 4 scored high on a subscale measuring the tendency to be careful not to hurt friends. Those in Cluster 3 were high on a subscale measuring the tendency to be just together with friends without becoming intimate. These results suggest that "commu - phobic adolescents" who withdraw from interpersonal relationships are different from those who are less anthropophobic and able to maintain superficial relationships with others.
