Friendship is one of the most important interpersonal relationships people have across adulthood. Research suggests that friendships are associated with better emotional outcomes. Prior studies have found that frequent contact with friends, support received from friends, or simply prioritizing friendships are associated with better emotional outcomes across adulthood (Huxhold et al., 2014; Pinquart & Sörensen, 2000). Still, little is known about the implications of daily friend encounters on emotional well-being in the context of race and age. Notably, encounters represent the structural aspect of social networks (Blieszner et al., 2019). This current study contributes to the literature by using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to investigate the everyday lives of adults of different ages by capturing their social and emotional processes closer to the time they occurred, minimizing retrospective biases and enhancing ecological validity (Charles et al., 2016).
This study is guided by Blieszner and colleagues’ (2019) integrative conceptual framework for friendship research. This framework identifies how social-structural position (e.g., individuals’ age, racial status) and psychological dispositions (e.g., individuals’ motivation, social expectation) shape friendship-related affect, cognitions, behaviors, and ongoing interaction within broader contexts of time, space, and culture. Guided by these conceptual framings, this study investigated how individuals’ social-structural position such as race and age may play a role in ongoing friendship patterns.
an honest convo about female friendships
Racial and Cultural Context
In general, Americans value friendships (Lu et al., 2021) and wish to spend time with their friends; however, there may be racial subgroup differences in these values within the United States. Racial minorized groups (e.g., Black Americans) are often subjected to different forms of racism (e.g., structural, cultural, and individual-level racism), which may influence the development and maintenance of friendships among Black individuals. For instance, compared to White American adults, Black American adults may have fewer friends and less frequent contact with friends because they have lower levels of social trust (PEW, 2007). Additionally, compared to White Americans, Black Americans emphasize familism and are more involved with kin ties (Falzarano et al., 2022; Taylor et al., 2013), which further dilute the time and resources for friends.
The association between friendship and well-being is likely different between Black and White American adults due to group differences in life experiences historically. For instance, history of slavery and racism may lead to reduced trust or enjoyment from interacting with non-kin among Black adults. Cross-cultural friendship research provides some insights into group differences in experiences with friends. For example, Lykes and Kemmelmeier (2014) found that lack of contact with friends was more closely linked to loneliness in individualistic societies than in collectivistic societies. Conversely, the lack of contact with family was more closely linked to loneliness in collectivistic societies than in individualistic societies.
These findings suggest that White adults (who are more likely to endorse individualism) may be more reactive to their encounters with friends than Black adults (who are more likely to endorse familism which is a subtype of collectivism; Oyserman et al., 2002). The emotional health benefits of friends not only vary between Black and White adults, but may also vary depending on individual’s age.
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The current study enriches the literature by examining American adults’ everyday involvement in friendship networks. Given barriers in the social world due to racism as well as a more exclusive focus on kinship, we expected that Black Americans would report fewer friend encounters than White Americans in everyday life.
Furthermore, a recent EMA study conducted among adults aged 65 and older (70% were non-Hispanic White) has shown that at times when older adults encountered friends, they reported better mood compared to the times when they did not (Ng et al., 2021). At times when individuals were with friends, their positive mood was elevated compared to when they were not (within-person association).
Age and Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST)
SST suggests that as individuals age, they reduce their social networks into smaller but more intimate forms by excluding peripheral social members (e.g., casual friends; Charles & Carstensen, 2010). In line with SST, a meta-analysis of social network size found that the number of friends declines as people age across adulthood and across different cultures (Wrzus et al., 2012).
In line with SST, studies have shown that friends (e.g., activities with friends, perceiving friendship as important, support from friends) are more strongly associated with better subjective well-being among older adults than younger adults (e.g., Huxhold et al., 2014; Lu et al., 2021), indicating friends may fulfill older adults’ need to connect with others, which is a crucial factor in achieving better emotional well-being in older adulthood. Older adults often report better emotional well-being owing to adopting attention, coping, and emotion regulation skills to avoid negative events (Charles & Carstensen, 2010); however, the strength and vulnerability integration model suggests that age-related improvements in emotional well-being may not occur among individuals who are chronically stressed (e.g., racial minorized groups; Charles, 2010).
As such, this study examined whether age moderated the associations between friend encounters and mood among White and Black individuals. We predicted that the link between friend encounters and better mood would be stronger among older adults compared to young adults.
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Methodological Approaches
Most studies of racial differences in social networks or social experiences rely on global reports or retrospective measures rather than actual encounters (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010; Pinquart & Sörensen, 2000). Social network size, in general, does not always map onto contact frequency. For example, prior retrospective studies showed that Black American adults might not have large social networks, but they were more likely to activate existing ties, resulting in reports of more frequent contact than White American adults (Ajrouch et al., 2001; Alwin et al., 2018).
This study drew on data from the Stress and Well-being in Everyday Life (SWEL) study collected from March 2018 through March 2020. These participants were from the Detroit area who participated in at least one wave of the longitudinal Social Relations and Health Study (SRS; three waves of data in 1992 [aged from 8 to 93], 2005, 2015; original sample description in Ajrouch et al., 2001; Birditt et al., 2020). The Black sample was matched with a subset of the larger sample of White participants on key characteristics including age, gender, education, social network size, and hypertension status using propensity scores (Guo & Fraser, 2015).
A total of 238 adults (109 Black and 129 White adults) participated in the baseline interviews in their homes or over the phone. Among these 238 participants, 169 (80 Black and 89 White adults; Mage = 52.86, SD = 12.79) participated in a 4-day experience sampling. This study used this subsample (n = 169) for data analyses. Interviewers showed the participant how to complete the experience-sampling surveys on a smartphone provided to participants.
Participants rated their positive and negative moods during the past 3 hours. They rated the extent to which eight positive mood items (i.e., energetic, loved, happy, calm, content, excited, proud, and optimistic) and eight negative mood items (i.e., tired, worried/anxious, tense/stress, irritated, lonely, angry, bored, and sad) described them on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (a great deal). This study adjusted for assessment-level variables measured in the EMAs because this was critical for uncovering within-person associations.
Friendships Among Black Women
Black female friendships can promote identity development and become a source of affirmation. In a recent article published in Emerging Adulthood, my colleagues and I found that in friendships with other Black women, Black female college students (18-24 years) were able to process their experiences of discrimination and misogynoir on campus, build social and professional networks with Black women who had similar interests, and move towards more affirmative understandings of their identities.
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Our findings echo beloved Black feminist ancestor, author, professor, activist, daughter, sister, and friend bell hooks’ notion of friendship as, “the place in which a great majority of us have our first glimpse of redemptive love and caring community. Learning to love in friendships empowers us and enables us to bring this love to other interactions…” (p. 134). Consistent with evidence on the benefits of racially homophilous relationships and social networks among Black students (Jackson & Hui, 2017; Thelamour et al., 2019), we found that Black women offered one another significant forms of academic and social support during their time in college, particularly when they encountered bias and discrimination in the PWI environment.
These shows and films capture a range of everyday moments-from breakups and new relationships to losing jobs and raising children-consistent with research highlighting that Black women live and learn from one another in ways that increase their understanding of history, self, and community. Additionally, Black women may exercise individual power and agency in conversation and community with one another.
The Shifting Landscape of American Friendships
Coming out of a once-in-a-generation global pandemic, Americans appear more attuned than ever to the importance of friendship. However, despite renewed interest in the topic of friendship in popular culture and the news media, signs suggest that the role of friends in American social life is experiencing a pronounced decline.
Nearly half (47 percent) of Americans report having lost touch with at least a few friends over the past 12 months. Despite prolonged periods of social isolation and quarantine that characterized much of American life over the past year, nearly half (46 percent) of Americans report having made a new friend within the past 12 months. Of the many ways Americans make friends and the many places friendships develop, the workplace is the most common.
The survey paints a more complex and perhaps more fluid picture of American friendships. Roughly half of Americans report having lost touch with at least one friend during the pandemic. But, surprisingly, nearly as many Americans report having made a new friend over this same period.
Support Networks and Social Solidarity
Involvement with kin and non kin is an essential component of daily life for the vast majority of Americans. Family and friendship support networks are important for coping with the ongoing stresses of daily life (e.g. Benin & Keith, 1995), providing a place to live when confronting homelessness (Taylor, Chatters & Celious 2003), and in coping with physical and mental health problems (Cohen, Underwood & Gottlieb, 2000; Lincoln, 2000).
The conceptual framework guiding our study is the family solidarity model (McChesney & Bengtson, 1988). As the name suggests, the family solidarity model views the connections and bonds between members as an important and fundamental organizing feature of the family. The family solidarity model further states that understanding family functioning in a particular domain (such as support provision) requires an appreciation for other factors that characterize family members’ attitudes, behaviors and the qualitative aspects of family relationships (e.g., expressed closeness, interactions).
The family solidarity model (Bengtson, Giarrusso, Mabry & Silverstein, 2002; Nye & Rushing, 1969) identifies a set of dimensions that characterize family relations that focus on family interactions, affect (e.g., feelings of closeness to family), and behaviors (receiving and giving support). The family solidarity model moves beyond an exclusive focus on enacted support exchanges (e.g., receiving and giving support) which are often narrowly defined (i.e., monetary exchanges) and constrained by factors such as poverty and geographic distance. Instead, family dimensions such as interaction and affection are incorporated that are also relevant and important in characterizing family relationships.
