Women's friendship dissolution: A qualitative study

Abstract

This study is the first of its kind to explore and describe female experiences of ending a friendship (non-romantic) with a female friend. The adult friendship did not end through death or moving away, and it ended within the last five years. The unique and specific characteristics of women's relationships with women may suggest that the maintenance of their relationships carry a particular importance that differs from social connections in the lives of men. Given the importance of relational connection in women's lives and the scarcity of literature regarding friendship dissolution, an investigation of the process of women's friendship dissolution was warranted. A survey of the literature provided direction for the exploratory research questions that guided the development of the interview protocol. Participants included in this study were 15 professional women (ages 25-72 years, median age = 32) self-selected from three different recruitment pools. The primary researcher conducted face-to-face interviews with all of the participants. The interviews were analyzed by a research team of three judges employing a qualitative research methodology guided by Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR; Hill, et al, 1997; Hill et al., 2005). The analysis was reviewed by an outside auditor for the study. Final data analysis revealed four domains (Friendship Characteristics, Components of Friendship Dissolution, Learning about Self and Friendship Dissolution, and Experience Related to Participation in Study and Interview), nine core ideas (Friendship Formation, Nature of Friendship, Reason for Dissolution, Process of Dissolution, Nature of Relationship Post-Dissolution, Outcome of Dissolution Experience, Increased Self-Awareness, Awareness Regarding Friendship and Dissolution, and Reaction to Interview), and thirty-two categories. Study strengths include exploratory investigation of an unexamined phenomenon, goodness of fit between research topic, data collection, and research methodology, and participant ability to describe complex facets of relationship dynamics due to their professions. Limitations of this study include the inability to generalize the findings outside of the participants of this study, self-select and self-report data collection methods, and possible interviewer and research team bias. Future research directions incorporate theoretical connections to female stress response (e.g. Taylor et al., 2000), relational aggression (Crick, 1995), and women's development (Josselson, 1996). Implications for the study for counseling women were discussed.