Using feminist research methods to understand the friendships of adolescent boys

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, we have acquired a more complex understanding of the relational worlds of a socioeconomically and culturally diverse group of adolescent girls as a result of feminist, qualitative research. Yet we currently have little understanding of the relational experiences of an ethnically, socioeconomically, and culturally diverse group of adolescent boys. Using a feminist, voice-centered approach to research, I sought to address this gap by exploring longitudinally the friendships of 19 urban, ethnically diverse adolescent boys from low-income families. Results suggest that as these adolescents boys grow older, they grow increasingly distrustful of their male peers. Furthermore, by their latter-year interviews, the boys spoke about not having close male friends because they did not trust their male peers. Many of the boys, however, yearned for close male friendships and recalled having had such relationships at an earlier age. Using feminist research methods with boys uncovered processes that have rarely been noted in the research literature on adolescent boys.