Examining context shifts’ effect on relationship trajectories in friendships using Turning Point Theory

Abstract

Drawing from Turning Point Theory, this study explores whether context shifts, which are changes in the location where a friendship is enacted, affect relationship trajectories and friendship closeness. Study 1A ( N = 120) experimentally manipulated invitations for context shifts in college friendships to test their effects on perceived relationship trajectory, social attraction, and closeness. Study 1B ( N = 112) replicated the results of Study 1A with working adults. Both studies’ results suggest that context-variable shifts lead to a change in perceived relationship trajectory but did not influence social attraction or closeness. In Study 2, first-year students ( N = 98) reported on turning points in their friendships twice over 9 weeks. Friendships reporting context-variable shifts as a turning point were associated with higher friendship closeness than relationships that had no turning points and similar closeness as friendships that reported self-disclosure as a turning point.

Chinese children’s heterogeneous friendship quality trajectories: Relations with school adjustment.

“…For another example, children in the moderate-decreasing class exhibited subsequent decreasing friendship quality and poorer school adjustment over time. Effective interventions administered around the turning point of deteriorating friendship would be beneficial to alter potential negative developmental patterns (Dominguez & Hall, 2020). Third, the time-varying relations between friendship quality trajectories and school adjustment outcomes suggest that frequent, ongoing assessments of friendship quality would be beneficial in monitoring children's friendship quality development and school adjustment.…”

Acquaintanceships (weak ties): Their role in people's web of relationships and their formation

“…For example, early turning points in the acquaintance process would likely be a first meeting, the first meaningful conversation, and the first time of meeting a friend of one's new acquaintance. Using the turning point perspective, Dominguez and Hall (2020) found evidence for the significance of context shifts (i.e., shifting the context from the location of meeting to a new location) as an early turning point in the development of relationships.…”