Female Perspectives on Friendship and Social Support Following a Gray Divorce: A Narrative Study

Gray divorce is defined as people divorcing over the age of 50 and represents the demographic experiencing the highest divorce rate increase since the 1990s. This narrative study explores the friendship and social support of cisgender heterosexual women following a gray divorce. Five themes emerged: social network reconfiguration, friendships as a protective factor, intentional relationship building, parent/child transformation, and reconstruction. Implications reveal substantial alignment with the convalescence model, accurately representing the gradual social rebuilding process following marital dissolution in later years. Participants demonstrated recovery trajectories moving from loss and abandonment toward authentic self-reconstruction. Friendship emerged as a crucial form of infrastructure serving multiple vital functions. Clinical implications emphasize phase-based intervention strategies and comprehensive assessment of social support, family dynamics, cultural considerations, and spiritual factors. Results suggest that mental health professionals can support older clients through divorce by recognizing friendship as protective infrastructure, avoiding premature recovery expectations, and employing phase-based strategies that address social isolation and identity reconstruction.