‘Domestic friends’: women's friendships, motherhood and inclusive intimacy
Open accessAbstract
Based on a qualitative, interview-based study of friendship, this article examines the specificity of ‘domestic friendships’ between women. Forged from the particular experiences, emotions and challenges of motherhood, they are qualitatively different from most friendships which tend to be based on individualistic connection and self-expression. Domestic friendships facilitate a specific form of ‘inclusive intimacy’ and shape an expansive experience of domestic life beyond the family or household. They help shape mothers' sense of self as profoundly relational and interconnected with others, and channel a sense of biographical selfhood whose form and temporality is tied firmly to others' lives.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The arrival of children can prompt relationships to change considerably.
“Social. The arrival of children can prompt relationships to change considerably (e.g., divorce, losing/gaining friends, mending family ties) (27–31).”
From A critical need for the concept of matrescence in perinatal psychiatry (2024) · cites this paper as [27]
Cites
In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development
GILLIGAN, C. (1993) · doi:10.4159/9780674037618 · Cited by 9,127 · see citing works
Ethics: subjectivity and truth
(1997) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.34-6207 · Cited by 2,525 · see citing works
On individuality and social forms
Simmel, G. (1971) · Cited by 1,515 · see citing works
(1992) · Cited by 1,280 · see citing works
Intimacy: Personal Relationships in Modern Societies
Cancian, F. M., & Jamieson, L. (1998) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2654235 · Cited by 740 · see citing works
Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship.
Seidman, S., & Weston, K. (1993) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2075770 · Cited by 570 · see citing works
Roseneil, S., & Budgeon, S. (2004) · Current Sociology · doi:10.1177/0011392104041798 · Cited by 449 · see citing works
Imagining Personhood Differently: Person Value and Autonomist Working-Class Value Practices
Skeggs, B. (2011) · The Sociological Review · doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.2011.02018.x · Cited by 384 · see citing works
Rethinking friendship: hidden solidarities today
(2007) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.44-7145 · Cited by 364 · see citing works
Adams, R. G. (1999) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511520747 · Cited by 298 · see citing works
Mothering the Self: Mothers, Daughters, Subjects
Lawler, S. (2000) · doi:10.25405/ncl.34663047 · Cited by 295 · see citing works
Personal Narratives, Relational Selves: Residential Histories in the Living and Telling
Mason, J. R. (2004) · The Sociological Review · doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.2004.00463.x · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Friendship: developing a sociological perspective
(1990) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.27-6041 · Cited by 290 · see citing works
MORGAN, D. (2011) · Sociological Research Online · doi:10.5153/sro.2535 · Cited by 278 · see citing works
Feminism and psychoanalytic theory
Iles, T. (1990) · Women s Studies International Forum · doi:10.1016/0277-5395(90)90060-b · Cited by 251 · see citing works
`It's Just Easier for Me to Do It': Rationalizing the Family Division of Foodwork
Beagan, B. L., Chapman, G. E., D’Sylva, A., et al. (2008) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/0038038508091621 · Cited by 241 · see citing works
Flexibility, friendship, and family
Allan, G. A. (2008) · Personal Relationships · doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00181.x · Cited by 235 · see citing works
May, V. (2008) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/0038038508088836 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Tangible Affinities and the Real Life Fascination of Kinship
Mason, J. R. (2008) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/0038038507084824 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Conceptualizing Relational Sociology
(2013) · Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · doi:10.1057/9781137342652 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
The Powerful Relational Language of ‘Family’: Togetherness, Belonging and Personhood
McCarthy, J. R. (2012) · The Sociological Review · doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.2011.02045.x · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Families, Secrets and Memories
Smart, C. (2011) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/0038038511406585 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Gay Men's Friendships: Invincible Communities
Price, J., & Nardi, P. M. (2000) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2655245 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
The Compass of Friendship: Narratives, Identities, and Dialogues
Rawlins, W. K. (2009) · Sage eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781452274874 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
van Hooff, J. (2011) · Journal of Gender Studies · doi:10.1080/09589236.2011.542016 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Difficult Friendships and Ontological Insecurity
Smart, C., Davies, K., Heaphy, B., et al. (2012) · The Sociological Review · doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.2011.02048.x · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Budgeon, S. (2006) · Sociological Research Online · doi:10.5153/sro.1248 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Personal relationships in late modernity
Allan, G. A. (2001) · Personal Relationships · doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2001.tb00043.x · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Gillies, V. (2006) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203966792 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Hockey, J., Meah, A., & Robinson, V. (2007) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/9780230596948 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Walker, K. (1995) · Sociological Forum · doi:10.1007/bf02095961 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
The Intimate Couple, Family and the Relational Organization of Close Relationships
Ketokivi, K. (2012) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/0038038511422552 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Best Friends and Marriage: Exchange among Women
Mandell, N., & Oliker, S. J. (1990) · Journal of Marriage and the Family · doi:10.2307/352948 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Heterosexuality in Theory and Practice
Beasley, C., Brook, H., & Holmes, M. (2012) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203103920 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Between friends: Making emotions intersubjectively
Cronin, A. M. (2013) · Emotion, space and society · doi:10.1016/j.emospa.2013.03.008 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Self-citationGendering Friendship: Couple Culture, Heteronormativity and the Production of Gender
Cronin, A. M. (2015) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/0038038514559321 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Self-citationMaking Families: Moral Tales of Parenting and Step- parenting
Grundy, S. (2003) · Sociological Research Online · doi:10.1177/136078040300800410 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Love Lives at a Distance: Distance Relationships over the Lifecourse
Holmes, M. (2006) · Sociological Research Online · doi:10.5153/sro.1423 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Oliker, S. J. (1989) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/9780520423732 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Playing With Dialectics: Black Female Friendship Groups as a Homeplace
Goins, M. N. (2011) · Communication Studies · doi:10.1080/10510974.2011.584934 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Muraco, A. (2012) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9780822395119 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Distant Friends, Mobility and Sensed Intimacy
Cronin, A. M. (2014) · Mobilities · doi:10.1080/17450101.2014.929419 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Intimate Relationships of Contemporary Spinsters
Simpson, R. (2006) · Sociological Research Online · doi:10.5153/sro.1422 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
O’Connell, R. (2010) · The Sociological Review · doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.2010.01940.x · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Gouldner, H. P., & Strong, M. S. (1987) · Praeger eBooks · doi:10.5040/9798216987260 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Friendship Dynamics between Emotions and Trials
Rebughini, P. (2011) · Sociological Research Online · doi:10.5153/sro.2239 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
‘Social Change, Friendship and Civic Participation’
Li, Y., Savage, M., & Pickles, A. R. (2003) · Sociological Research Online · doi:10.5153/sro.863 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Enduring Love? Couple relationships in the 21st Century: survey findings report
Gabb, J., Klett-Davies, M., Fink, J. S., & Thomae, M. (2013) · London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Monsour, M. (2001) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410604613 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Bourdieu P., 1999, The Weight of the World
- Gillis J., 1997, A World of their Own Making
- Marks S. R., 1998, Placing Friendship in Context, 43
- O'Connor P., 1998, Placing Friendship in Context, 117
- Oliker S. J., 1998, Placing Friendship in Context, 18
- Pahl R., 2000, On Friendship
- Smart C., 2007, Personal Life
- Weinstock J. S., 1996, Lesbian Friendships
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Abetz, J. S., & Moore, J. (2018) · Communication Culture and Critique · doi:10.1093/ccc/tcy008 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Lupton, D. A. (2017) · Societies · doi:10.3390/soc7030025 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
“The focus groups revealed that the intimacy of friendship with other women based on shared experiences of mothering is important to many women, helping to shape mothers’ sense of self as highly relational to other mothers and as members of a community of mothers, extending domestic life beyond the space of the home [4…”
BackgroundIntroduction: Urban friendship networks: Affective negotiations and potentialities of care
Kathiravelu, L., & Bunnell, T. (2017) · Urban Studies · doi:10.1177/0042098017737281 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
“Although recent studies by Cronin (2014, 2015a, 2015b) and others have highlighted the significance of friendship relations, these do not explicitly link to the urban as a site for, or draw out the significance of the urban condition for, such relations.”
BackgroundA critical need for the concept of matrescence in perinatal psychiatry
Athan, A. M. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1364845 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“The arrival of children can prompt relationships to change considerably (e.g., divorce, losing/gaining friends, mending family ties) (27 – 31).”
BackgroundTemporalities of Friendship: Adults’ Friends in Everyday Family Life and Beyond
Luotonen, A. (2022) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/00380385221090863 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Ellis‐Sloan, K., & Tamplin, A. (2018) · Social Policy and Society · doi:10.1017/s1474746418000106 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“Older mothers also experience a reduction of friendship circles following childbirth (Gottileb and Pancer, 1988) and report finding little time, energy or financial resources to maintain pre-parenting friendships (Cronin, 2015).”
BackgroundPractising care in teenage mother support groups
Ellis‐Sloan, K. (2015) · Critical Social Policy · doi:10.1177/0261018315599457 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Glocalised Motherhood: Sociality and Affect in Migrant Mothers’ Online Communities
Veazey, L. W. (2019) · Feminist Encounters A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics · doi:10.20897/femenc/5915 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“Mothers’ friendship difficulties have also received relatively little sociological attention (Cronin, 2015), despite appearing frequently in blogs and lifestyle articles (Hartley, 2015; Petersen, 2018) and driving the development of mothers’ friendship apps like Mush and Peanut (Prevett, 2018).”
Background“But we still try”: affective labor in the corporate mommy blog
Cummings, K. (2017) · Feminist Media Studies · doi:10.1080/14680777.2017.1382548 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“…of the subject-positioning and feelings-work described by sociologists regarding the conditions of contemporary Western motherhood (see Anne M. Cronin 2015; Jennifer Lois 2010; Deborah Lupton 2013, Maryann McCabe and Timothy de Waal Malefyt 2015, Rebecca Shea, Lia Bryant, and Sarah Wendt…”
BackgroundSwennen, F. (2020) · Feminist Legal Studies · doi:10.1007/s10691-020-09422-6 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
The significance of friendship in UK single mothers’ intimate lives
Morris, C. (2018) · Families Relationships and Societies · doi:10.1332/204674318x15262010818254 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Benchekroun, R. (2023) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/00380385231184812 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Friendships among mothers may provide a unique kind of intimacy, built around webs of practical support and emotional care (Cronin, 2015).”
BackgroundInfluentialGrondelaers, H., & Benchekroun, R. (2025) · Gender Place & Culture · doi:10.1080/0966369x.2025.2603367 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“As cronin (2015, 670) has noted, ‘the exchange of childcare between female friends’ generates trust which ‘comes to sym-bolize, and reinforce, the strength of the friendship bonds.’”
InfluentialHammons, A. J., & Robart, R. L. (2025) · Journal of Adult Development · doi:10.1007/s10804-024-09512-8 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Qualitative research with mothers has found that their friendships tend to center around their children, with these relationships revolving around child-focused activities (Cronin, 2015).”
InfluentialEntangled Roots: “Old Friends” Reconnected in Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation
Drews, M. (2022) · American literature readings in the 21st century · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-08003-6_2 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
The Construction and Transformation of High-Conflict Divorce Involving Children
Treloar, R. (2016) · Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Choosing Tradition: Getting Married
Carter, J., & Duncan, S. S. (2017) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/978-1-137-58961-3_3
Menstrual Kinship: Bonds of Intimacy and Care Work of Women in Central Kerala
Sabu, S., & Robinson, R. (2022) · Ethnos · doi:10.1080/00141844.2022.2136229
“Thirdly, Lamiya ’ s account also manifests that the context of menstrual intimacy between women is often the ‘ homophily ’ (Cronin 2015) or ‘ common experience ’ of bleeding and the shared social and cultural experiences that ensue from it.”
InfluentialConstructing a Mothers’ Culture: Affective Bargains in Branding DiscoursesPreprint
Mary, S. M., Duschinsky, R., Coughlan, B., et al. (2023) · doi:10.31235/osf.io/8a9wh
Assan, T. T. (2025) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/00380385251380753
“…exploring friendships across inequalities in other settings and life stages where friendships are deemed as highly beneficial or valued, such as Higher Education (Finn, 2015; Read et al., 2020), workplaces (Fox, 2024), divorce (Aeby and van Hooff, 2019) and parenthood (Cronin, 2015; Morris, 2019).”
Behind women’s success is a sisterhood that sustains it
Khawaja, M. (2026) · doi:10.64628/aam.ytxm9y7sq
Migrant mothers’ experiences of postnatal depression in the UK
Rater, L., Marais, D., & Kelly, A. (2026) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0347584
Benton, M., Moss, N., Begum, R., Cartwright, G., Baxendale‐Smith, P., Dave, A., & Kaler, M. K. (2026) · Health Expectations · doi:10.1111/hex.70714
- Authors
- Cronin, A. M.
- Affiliations
- Lancaster University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Cronin, Anne M.
- ORCID
- Cronin, Anne M.
- Venue
- The Sociological Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-08
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 662-679
- ISSN
- 0038-0261 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-954X
- OpenAlex
- W2099202944
- Semantic Scholar
- 459224f5727edd897fba6d9fbd8da181bc6d6bd1
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 7.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Sociological Review (publishedVersion)
- Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- British Academy (SG101403)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Work-Family Balance Challenges
- Keywords
- female friendship, motherhood, relational self, domestic life
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
