Friends Forever? Correlates of High School Friendship (In)stability from Adolescence to Young Adulthood.

ABSTRACT: 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' seni

SUBMITTER: McMillan C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12320942 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature