Phenomenological sociology of perceiving the opposite-sex friendship (Case of high-school male students in Mashhad)

The increasing trend of opposite-sex friendship, especially among high-school students, has raised great concerns for parents as well as Iranian officials. Notwithstanding of a dramatic growth of such a relationship in our society, its meaning is unknown for parents and officials. The present inquiry has explored the meaning of having a girlfriend from the high-school male students’ perspective utilizing hermeneutic methods such as meaning analysis and interpretation approaches. Due to the epistemological nature of the inquiry, a qualitative research design was preferred. Grounded on the theoretical framework of the study, sampling was chosen purposefully while taking advantage of data saturation technique. Data were collected via in-depth interviewing approach from among of eight participants with the experience of having friendship with the opposite sex. The collected data were coded and categorized carefully in such a way to address participants’ both general and individual meanings of opposite-sex friendship Findings show that there is a shared experience of love and compassion associated with physical changes like rapid heartbeat and body mobility or strange feelings like happy pains when boys are successful in their friendships. From the participants’ point of view, the opposite-sex friendship is a transient pleasure and a perilous experience which operates as an inhibitor in the way of individuals’ progress. Communication devices like phone and cellphone found as the commonest media for contact. Unlike families and officials’ perception of the issue as a sexual matter, the opposite-sex friendship lies in other factors such as curiosity and the prettiness of the girls naturally persuading the boys in initial stages irrespective of breeding any sexual intentions in the mind. Families and officials’ unawareness of the issue and their inappropriate care might bring about irretrievable social consequences.