The objective of the present study is to examine the effect of friendship skills psycho-education (FSE) on the quality of friendship among 9-12-year-old students. In the study, a 3x2 (experiment, control and placebo group x pre-test-post-test) mixed design was used. For this purpose, in the first term of 2014-2015 academic year, a friendship quality scale was applied to the 5^th and 6^th grade students in a secondary school in a province center in Eastern Anatolia in order to determine who will participate in the friendship skill psycho-education program. A total of 27 volunteering students (experimental group = 9, control group = 9, placebo group = 9) who met the inclusion criteria for the psycho-education program were randomly assigned to the experiment, control and placebo groups as a result of the conducted pretest. In order to improve the friendship qualities of the participants in the experimental group, a 11-session friendship skills psycho-education program developed by the researcher, and with the placebo group, a five-session group consulting application on efficient studying methods and techniques were conducted. No application was conducted with the control group. Two-factor ANOVA results demonstrated that friendship skills psycho-education program was effective on the quality of friendship. The results of the present study, showed that the friendship skills psycho-education program could be used as an effective approach to improve the friendship qualities of students aged between 9 and 12.

Keywords: Friendship, Friendship quality, Friendship skills, psycho-education