A Reconceptualization and Expansion of Flirting Behavior and Its Impact on Life Satisfaction and Friendship Quality
Braden T. Hall et al.
What the paper says
The practice of flirting has long been viewed as sexual or romantic. However, this study proposes that flirting is associated with a much broader array of social interactions and that its primary function is relationship enhancement rather than acquisition of some desired outcome. A total of 945 people participated in this study, organized into 315 triads: the primary participant (who answered questions about himself or herself) and 2 friends of each participant (who rated the main participant on the same questions). The questions encompassed frequency of flirting in 8 different contexts (romantic, sexual, party, restaurant, school, work, home, with a stranger), skill at flirting (in the same 8 contexts), 10 predictors of flirting (e.g., social skills, humor, resilience), and 2 outcome variables (life satisfaction and quality of friendships). Through bivariate correlations, regression analyses, and structural equation modeling, results supported the reconceptualization of flirting, the expansion of flirting into other contexts, and the positive outcomes of increased flirting skill. Structural equation modeling revealed that flirting frequency was the greatest predictor of flirting skill, followed by social skills, nonverbal behavior, humor, situational awareness, and confidence. Flirting skill had a significant impact on life satisfaction but not on friendship quality. Results are discussed and potential avenues for future studies explored.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.