Ebook Impact of Traumatic Experiences on Friendship
Differences in quality of close female friendships between women with and without trauma history were explored. Self-report measures were used to examine trauma history and cognitive schemas of 149 college women. Conflict resolution, intimacy, and relationship satisfaction in close female friendships were explored, as well as social support, perceived social support, intimacy goals, and perceived intimacy goals. Women who did not report trauma history reported higher use of obliging and compromising conflict resolution style in their close friendships than those who reported trauma history. Experiencing a traumatic event within the last year was significantly correlated with lower frequency of communication with a best friend. This research sheds light on the reality of close female friendships and the potential effects that trauma can have on the functioning and success of such relationships.
Female Friendships: The Impact of Traumatic Experiences on Personal Beliefs and Relationship Functioning
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Trauma affects the interpersonal functioning of individuals on many different levels (Harris & Valentiner, 2002). Specifically, schemas about the self and the world are altered as a result of traumatic experiences (Foa, Ehlers, Clark, Tolin, & Orsillo, 1999; Janoff-Bulman, 1989; Janoff-Bulman & Frieze, 1983; McCann & Pearlman, 1990). This has been found to affect how individuals relate to each other in their close relationships (Owens & Chard, 2001) in many ways, such as decreasing the level of intimacy (Fehr, 2004). A decrease in intimacy has important implications for the overall amount of social support received in these relationships (Sanderson, Rahm & Beigbeder, 2005). These effects of trauma are particularly salient for college-aged women population whose close female friendships are vital sources of social support and intimacy (Koh, Mendelson, & Rhee, 2003; Carbery & Buhrmester, 1998), which help to maintain psychological well-being (Fry & Barker, 2002). For this reason, we found it important to explore in this study, the relationships between reports of trauma history and the functioning of these college-aged female friendships.
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Ebook Impact of Traumatic Experiences on Friendship
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