Paper Title
Kaibigan Lang Pala: A Qualitative Inquiry On The Case Of Teenagers Who Experienced Friend Zone
Abstract
This research discussed the violations of teenagers’ expectancies of romantic relationship from others (violators)
who only treated them as friend. Specifically, the interpersonal communication behaviors, its assigned meanings, violation
valance and the communication reward valance were analyzed. The researchers anchored the study to the Expectancy
Violation Theory of Judee Burgoon. Ways on how individuals react to the communication behaviors of others who have
expectancies of how others should act. When others violate the expectations of another, either positively or negatively,
individuals will respond in specific ways. This case study employed the qualitative approach and descriptive method as the
design. Through purposive sampling, the researchers chose the six teenage informants namely Erik, Chris, Karl, John, Kath
and Raisa. Information was generated from the conducted in-depth interview. Research found out that interpersonal
communication behaviors namely communication in social media, holding hands, accompanying to somewhere and verbal
exchanges of “I Love You” and “I Miss You” have meanings for the informants of being in the state or getting to a romantic
relationship for the informants. As expectancies were violated, informants assigned “friendship” as acceptable meaning of
the communication behaviors. At the end, these experiences lead to positive and negative impact to the interpersonal
relationship of the informants and the violators.
Keywords- friend zone, expectation, violation valance, interpersonal communication behaviors, reward valance.