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.
Altman, I., & Taylor, D.A. ( 1973). Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
2.
Aron, A., Aron, E., & Smollan, D. ( 1992). Inclusion of other in the self scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 596-612.
3.
Baxter, L.A., & Bullis, C. ( 1986). Turning points in developing romantic relationships. Human Communication Research, 12, 469-493.
4.
Baxter, L.A., & Montgomery, B.M. (1996). Relating: Dialogues and dialectics. New York: Guilford.
5.
Baxter, L.A., & Montgomery, B.M. (1998). A guide to dialectical approaches to studying personal relationships. In B. M. Montgomery & L. A. Baxter (Eds.), Dialectical approaches to studying personal relationships (pp. 1-15). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
6.
Baxter, L.A., & Pittman, G. ( 2001). Communicatively remembering turning points of relational development in heterosexual romantic relationships. Communication Reports, 14, 1-17.
7.
Berger, C.R., Weber, M.D., Munley, M.E., & Dixon, J.T. ( 1977). Interpersonal relationship levels and interpersonal attraction . In B. D. Ruben (Ed.), Communication yearbook 1 (pp. 245-262). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
8.
Berscheid, E., Snyder, M., & Omoto, A. ( 1989). The relationship closeness inventory: Assessing the closeness of interpersonal relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 792-807.
9.
Blieszner, R., & Adams, R.G. ( 1992). Adult friendship. Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage.
10.
Bolton, C.D. ( 1961). Mate selection as the development of a relationship. Marriage and Family Living, 23, 234-240.
Cohen, J. ( 1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 37-46.
13.
Dainton, M., Zelley, E., & Langan, E. ( 2003). Maintaining friendships throughout the lifespan. In D. J. Canary & M. Dainton (Eds.), Maintaining relationships through communication: Relational, contextual, and cultural variations (pp. 79-102). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
14.
Davis, K.E., & Todd, M.J. ( 1985). Assessing friendship: Prototypes, paradigm cases and relationship description. In S. Duck & D. Perlman (Eds.), Understanding personal relationships: An interdisciplinary approach (pp. 17-38). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
15.
Fehr, B. ( 1999). Stability and commitment in friendships. In J. M. Adams & W. H. Jones (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal commitment and relationship stability (pp. 239-256). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
16.
Fehr, B. ( 2000). The life cycle of friendship. In C. Hendrick & S. S. Hendrick (Eds.), Close relationships: A sourcebook (pp. 71-82). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
17.
Golish, T.D. ( 2000). Changes in closeness between adult children and their parents: A turning point analysis. Communication Reports, 13, 79-97.
18.
Hays, R.B. ( 1985). A longitudinal study of friendship development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 909-924.
19.
Hays, R.B. ( 1988). Friendship. In S. W. Duck (Ed.), Handbook of personal relationships (pp. 391-408). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
20.
Hopper, R., & Drummond, K. ( 1990). Emergent goals at a relational turning point: The case of Gordon and Denise. Journal of Language and Social Psychology , 9, 39-65.
21.
Johnson, A.J. ( 2001). Examining the maintenance of friendships: Are there differences between geographically close and long-distance friends? Communication Quarterly, 49, 424-435.
22.
Johnson, A.J., Becker, J.A.H., Craig, E.A., Gilchrist, E.S., & Haigh, M.M. (in press). Changes in friendship commitment: Comparing geographically close and long-distance young-adult friendships. Communication Quarterly.
23.
Johnson, A.J., Haigh, M.M., Becker, J.A.H., Craig, E.A., & Wigley, S. ( 2008). College students’ use of relational management strategies in email in long-distance and geographically close relationships . Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 381-404.
24.
Johnson, A.J., Haigh, M., Craig, E., & Becker, J. (November, 2005). Defining and measuring relational closeness: The test case of close long-distance friendships. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association , Boston, MA.
25.
Johnson, A.J., Wittenberg, E., Villagran, M.M., Mazur, M., & Villagran, P. ( 2003). Relational progression as a dialectic: Examining turning points in communication among friends. Communication Monographs , 70, 230-249.
26.
Knoke, D., & Burke, P.J. ( 1980). Log-linear models. Sage University Paper series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, series no. 07-020. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
27.
Lloyd, S.A., & Cate, R.M. ( 1985). Attributions associated with significant turning points in premarital relationship development and dissolution. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 2, 419-436.
28.
McNemar, Q. ( 1969). Psychological statistics (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
29.
Monsour, M. ( 1992). Meanings of intimacy in cross-sex and same-sex friendships . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 9, 277-295.
30.
Montgomery, B.M. ( 1993). Relationship maintenance versus relationship change: A dialectical dilemma. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships , 10, 205-223.
31.
Parks, M.R., & Floyd, K. ( 1996). Meanings for closeness and intimacy in friendship. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 13, 85-107.
32.
Raghunathan, T.E., Rosenthal, R., & Rubin, D.B. ( 1996). Comparing correlated but nonoverlapping correlations . Psychological Methods, 1, 178-183.
33.
Rawlins, W.K. ( 1994). Being there and growing apart: Sustaining friendships during adult-hood. In D. J. Canary & L. Stafford (Eds.), Communication and relational maintenance (pp. 275-294). New York: Academic Press.
34.
Rose, S.M., & Serafica, F.C. (1986). Keeping and ending casual, close, and best friendships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 3, 275-288.
35.
Stafford, L. ( 2005). Maintaining long-distance and cross-residential relationships . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
36.
Surra, C.A. ( 1985). Courtship types: Variations in interdependence between partners and social networks. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 357-375.
37.
Surra, C.A. ( 1987). Reasons for changes in commitment: Variations by courtship type. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 4, 17-33.
38.
Swain, S. ( 1989). Covert intimacy: Closeness in men’s friendships . In B. Risman & P. Schwartz (Eds.), Gender in intimate relationships: A microstructural approach (pp. 71-86). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
39.
Winn, K.I., Crawford, D.W., & Fischer, J. ( 1991). Equity and commitment in romance versus friendship. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 301-314.
40.
Wiseman, J.P. ( 1986). Friendship: Bonds and binds in a voluntary relationship . Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 3, 191-211.
41.
Wright, P.H. ( 1984). Self-referent motivation and the intrinsic quality of friendship. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 1, 115-130.
