Poster #87 - Unfriended? Characteristics of Friendship Stability and Dissolution from Early to Middle Adolescence

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

Close friendships become particularly salient in early adolescence, having significant influences on adolescent well-being through feelings of intimacy and personal connectedness (Bukowski et al., 2020). While changing friendship bonds is common in adolescence, surprisingly, there is little research on friendship stability and dissolution (Flannery & Smith, 2021). Our research used a 2- year longitudinal design to investigate stability and change in close adolescent friendships.
At Time 1 (T1), participants were 202 adolescents in close friend dyads (M = 12.67 years, 52.5% girls, 75.7% White, 17.8% Black, middle-class) who described their relationship with their friend at two time periods separated by two years. At T2, 169 participants (52.1% girls, retention = 83.7%) participated individually and reported on their T1 friendship. Adolescents completed the Friendship Quality Questionnaire (FQ, Parker & Asher, 1993) at T1 in reference to this friend. Adolescents described their friend at T1 as their: very best friend (49.0%), best friend (40.1%), good friend (10.4%), or a friend (0.5%). 57.5% of dyads indicated exact reciprocated friendships; 93.2% were reciprocated within one friendship level. At T1, the length of friendship ranged from 0.50 - 14 years (M = 5.14).
At T1, gender x friendship type ANOVAs for friendship quality from each friend’s perspective (actor, partner) indicated significant differences between all friendship types in expected directions (e.g., very best friends had highest quality). Changes in the friend type description over 2 years indicated that 29.0% remained the same, 33.1% had a minor downgrade (e.g., best friend to a good friend), 21.3% had a major downgrade or were no longer friends, and 16.6% had an upgrade (e.g., good friend to very best friend). Adolescents who described their bond as “very best friend” (39%) and “best friend” (33%) were most vulnerable to a minor downgrade, and 29% who described their bond as “very best friend” reported no longer being friends. In best friend dyads where the partner reported a higher status than the actor, the majority in this group reported an upgrade in their friendship, whereas when the partner reported a lower status than the actor, over half of this group reported a minor downgrade. See Table 1.
When examining FQ values as a function of T1 friendship type and gender, significant differences emerged when the partners’ but not actors’ perspective was considered, F(3, 167) = 2.68, p = .049. Friends who experienced a major downgrade or dissolution reported lower FQ than friends whose friendship was stable. There were no differences for friendship conflict. When asked why the friendship had experienced a downgrade or dissolution over time, the most common reason was a gradual drifting apart (45.9%); less than 10% of friendships ended due to a conflict or significant disagreement. See Table 2.
The results indicate that friendship change is the norm but emphasize a gradual drifting apart rather than prior characterizations of adolescent friendship as ending in conflict and/or betrayal (Flannery & Smith, 2021). More research needs to examine friendship dissolution throughout adolescence, considering that adolescent relationships lay the groundwork for adult relationships.

Authors

• Skylar S Raynor, William and Mary

• Sarah K Borowski, Lehigh University

• Janice L Zeman, William and Mary
  Presenting Author