| The purpose of the research study was to understand the nature of close friendships shared among women based on the social context of family structure. This was explored by interviewing 15 African American and Caucasian women to best understand if family structure influence or impact the formation, development, or maintenance of close female friendships. The study also sought to learn how women describe their female friendships in terms of social support. Finally the researcher wanted to learn whether it would be important for women in counseling to inform their counselors about their close female friendships. The primary research question is "How do women describe their experiences of being in close female friendships from the social context as it relates to how those friendships are developed, formed, and maintained?" Two sub-questions were developed to discern the supportive nature of friendships (a) How do women describe their female friendships as they relate to a source of social support? (b) Do women seeking therapeutic intervention feel that it would be important for counselors to have an awareness of sisterhood friendships for effective counseling interventions? Bowlby's Attachment theory was used as the theoretical foundation of the study. Data was collected using a generic qualitative methodology. There were five themes and two sub-themes that emerged as a result. The findings indicated that women often receive messages from family that help influence how they form, develop and maintain friendships and that friendship among women are a great source of support. Moreover, the findings indicated that women would want their counselors to know about their supportive female friendships, supporting the therapeutic value of friendships. |
