"We're Just Friends": Myth Construction As A Communication Strategy In Maintaining Cross-Sex Friendships

Authors

Vickie Harvey, California State UniversityFollow

Abstract

The main goal of this research is to present a narrative description and identify categorical myths of cross-sex friendship in order to more fully understand the romance challenge confronting women and men in friendship. Closer examination into the challenges confronting cross-sex friends through narratives generate insight into the process of communication and interpretation of how friends construct, change and sustain their reality of their friendship. Current research suggests that cross-sex friendships differ from same-sex friendships (Werking, 1997). Respondents were 120 college students from a Midwest college and a West Coast college attending communication classes between 2000-2002. Respondents kept a journal discussing developmental and current issues of one cross-sex friendship.

Keywords

Cross-Sex Friendship, Romantic Challenge of Friendship, and Narrative Inquiry

Publication Date

6-1-2003

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2003.1894

Recommended APA Citation

Harvey, V. (2003). "We're Just Friends": Myth Construction As A Communication Strategy In Maintaining Cross-Sex Friendships. The Qualitative Report, 8(2), 314-332. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2003.1894