Bonding and supportive relationships among black professional women: Rituals of restoration

In two-day assessment workshops 71 black professional women explored the kinds of supportive relationships they have formed with significant black women friends and the consequences of these supportive relationships for their growth and development. Findings show two major types of supportive relationships: (1) other-oriented relationships, in which participants' bonds with other black women emphasize the provision of support to the other, and (2) self-enhancing relationships, in which participants' bonds with other black women are reciprocal in nature or are oriented toward self. Within these two types of relationships, three main functions of support were found: (1) social companionship, (2) task help, and (3) supportiveness. Of these three functions, the receipt of supportiveness consisting of emotional support, high commitment to one another, and encouragement to tackle life's obstacles resulted in the highest levels of growth and development among the participants, thus most effectively validating and addressing their experience of bicultural stress.