Friendships are flexible, not fragile: Turning points in geographically-close and long-distance friendships

Abstract

Prior research has characterized friendships, particularly long-distance friendships, as fragile. A turning point analysis compared changes in friendship levels for 100 college students in geographically-close (GC) and long-distance (LD) same-sex friendships. Results indicated that friendship level and commitment level are strongly and positively associated. Moreover, friendship level and proximity are interdependent with several categories of turning points. Finally, a linear sequence of shifts in friendship level is associated with both GC and LD friends, but a nonlinear sequence that includes a shift back to the casual friendship level with recovery is more typical for LD friends. Findings highlight transformation within friendships and suggest that it may be more accurate to conceptualize friendships as flexible rather than fragile.

Changes in Friendship Commitment: Comparing Geographically Close and Long-Distance Young-Adult Friendships

“…Conceptualizing friendship as a fragile relationship that is doomed to deterioration and termination by geographic distance, then, does not seem to be appropriate, at least not for this population. A more appropriate metaphor for these friendships is ''flexible,'' adapting to multiple transitions (Becker et al, 2009). This study provided further evidence that proximity and frequent face-to-face contact are not requirements for close interpersonal relationships, as well as that friendship, in particular, is not as vulnerable to a lack of proximity as is often portrayed.…”

“…Elsewhere, Becker et al (2009) reported results for different hypotheses using data collected at the same time as the data used for this study. This other study focused on shifts in friendship level (casual, close, and best) and, unlike our study, not on the subdimensions of commitment, how commitment changed across relational trajectories, the number of turning points, and biological gender.…”

The Language of Memory: Narrating Memories of Parents and Friends

“…In the case of the first group, it was clarified in the instructions that they were not to choose as friends either those individuals with whom they had been, or were, romantically involved, or family members. This procedure is recommended by Becker, Johnson, Craig, Gilchrist, Haigh, and Lane [47]. However, we did not restrict participants' choice to same-sex best friends.…”

My Friends Are My Estate: Friendship Experiences Mediate the Relationship Between Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts and Happiness

“…As for research focusing on the impact of physical distance on friendships, some studies have shown that maintaining long-distance (LD) friendships, compared to geographically-close (GC) friendships, might be a challenge (Fehr 1999;Weiner and Hannum 2013) since GC friends have many more opportunities to engage in maintenance behaviors than LD friends. Yet, other studies on the topic found that LD and GC friendships are more similar than different (Becker et al 2009;Stafford 2005). For instance, Johnson (2001) found no significant differences between GC and LD friendships on friendship satisfaction, closeness, or future expectations for the friendship.…”