McMillan Cassie, Jones Kaley A, Jacobsen Wade C, Ramirez Nayan G, Feinberg Mark E
Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.
School of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.
Soc Networks. 2025 Jul;82:27-38. doi: 10.1016/j.socnet.2025.02.002. Epub 2025 Mar 17.
Although friendship instability is common throughout adolescence and young adulthood, experiencing high rates of relational turnover is associated with negative health outcomes and lower educational attainment. Currently, we know little about whether the rates and correlates of friendship instability change during the transition to young adulthood, even though this period is characterized by significant life events such as high school completion. Using new and unique network data from the PROSPER study, we address this gap by following the trajectories of roughly 2,000 respondents' close friendships from the start of high school to one year after graduation. Results suggest that friendship dissolution is frequent after high school, with only 35% of friendships reported in respondents' senior years of high school remaining intact one year later. Similar histories of substance use were more impactful in inspiring friendship persistence after high school than during adolescence, while the role of shared sociodemographic characteristics did not vary across developmental periods. After high school, young people were also more likely to maintain friendships with peers who previously reciprocated these relationships and reported friends in common. Our findings underscore how friendship dynamics change at the start of young adulthood in ways that carry implications for behavioral trajectories and life outcomes.
尽管友谊的不稳定性在整个青春期和青年期都很常见，但经历高频率的关系更替与负面健康结果和较低的教育成就有关。目前，我们对友谊不稳定性的发生率及其相关因素在向青年期过渡期间是否会发生变化知之甚少，尽管这一时期的特点是有诸如高中毕业等重大生活事件。利用来自“繁荣”（PROSPER）研究的全新且独特的网络数据，我们通过追踪大约2000名受访者从高中开始到毕业后一年的亲密友谊轨迹来填补这一空白。结果表明，高中毕业后友谊破裂很常见，受访者高中最后一年报告的友谊中，只有35%在一年后仍然完好无损。与青春期相比，相似的物质使用经历在促进高中毕业后的友谊持久度方面影响更大，而共享社会人口特征的作用在不同发育阶段没有变化。高中毕业后，年轻人也更有可能与之前回应过这些关系的同龄人保持友谊，并报告有共同的朋友。我们的研究结果强调了青年期开始时友谊动态是如何变化的，这些变化对行为轨迹和生活结果具有影响。
