Question 1

Which psychologist's body of research is especially associated with the academic study of close friendship?

Accepted Answer

Beverley Fehr. Beverley Fehr's research at the University of Winnipeg has been foundational in defining close friendship and its trajectories, including endings.

Question 2

Mahzad Hojjat and Beverley Fehr have edited and contributed to scholarly volumes focused on:

Accepted Answer

The psychology of friendship, including how friendships develop and dissolve. Hojjat and Fehr's edited volumes synthesize psychological research on friendship development, maintenance, and dissolution.

Question 3

Research suggests that the most common cause of friendship endings is:

Accepted Answer

Gradual drift due to life transitions, distance, or changing values. Studies consistently find that most friendships end through gradual drift — moves, life transitions, diverging interests — rather than acute conflict.

Question 4

Studies of friendship dissolution find that grief over a friendship's end is:

Accepted Answer

Often as intense as romantic breakup grief, though less culturally recognized. Researchers including Fehr and others note that friendship-loss grief can be substantial, though it lacks the cultural rituals available for romantic loss.

Question 5

Which framework is often used to discuss how friendships develop and decline?

Accepted Answer

Levinger's Stage Theory of Relationships, which includes a 'deterioration' phase. Levinger's stage model, including buildup, continuation, deterioration, and ending, has been applied to friendships as well as romantic relationships.

Question 6

Research on betrayal in friendships finds that:

Accepted Answer

Betrayal — especially gossip, broken confidence, or disloyalty — is among the most powerful predictors of dissolution. Studies identify betrayals such as gossip, broken confidence, and disloyalty as among the most powerful triggers of friendship dissolution.

Question 7

Adult friendship research finds that maintaining a close friendship typically requires:

Accepted Answer

Active investment — communication, shared time, mutual support. Adult friendships, unlike childhood ones, rarely sustain themselves without intentional investment in time, communication, and shared experience.

Question 8

Researchers sometimes use the term 'ambiguous loss' to describe:

Accepted Answer

Loss that lacks clear closure — including friendships that fade without explicit ending. Pauline Boss's concept of ambiguous loss applies well to many friendship endings, which fade without the clear closure of a formal ending.

Question 9

Research on reconciliation finds that friendships can sometimes resume after a long gap:

Accepted Answer

Often, when both parties acknowledge what changed and what is being rebuilt. Reconciliation research finds that many lapsed friendships can resume when both people acknowledge the rupture and engage in some explicit rebuilding.

Question 10

When grief over a friendship's end feels prolonged or destabilizing, an evidence-informed step is:

Accepted Answer

Consider talking to a therapist or counselor experienced with grief and relational loss. When grief over a friendship loss feels prolonged, working with a therapist familiar with relational grief can support processing and meaning-making.

The Psychology of Friendship Breakups

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