LAUSR

Friendships frequently dissolve in early adolescence, but youth may continue to encounter ex-friends in their daily lives. The current study aimed to examine how adolescents’ reactions to friendship dissolutions were associated with continued exposure to the former friend both in school and online via social media. Participants were 354 middle school students (Mage = 11.89 years, SD = .86) from the northeast United States who self-reported their experiences following a friendship dissolution. Results indicate that higher frequency of seeing a former friend in school is associated with increased intensity of positive reactions and decreased duration of negative reactions. Greater frequency of seeing the former friend online, however, is associated with increased intensity and duration of negative reactions following the dissolution, as well as decreased intensity of positive reactions. We interpret the current findings through the lens of the transformation framework, which suggests that the online context transforms and intensifies negative peer experiences.