FRIENDSHIP

INTRODUCTION:
Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between two or more people. Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association. Friendship has been studied in academic fields such as sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and philosophy. Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, including social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, and attachment styles. A World Happiness atabase study found that people with close friendships are happier. Although there are many forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place, certain characteristics are present in many types of friendship. !uch characteristics include affection, sympathy, empathy, honesty, altruism, mutual understanding and compassion, en"oyment of each other#s company, trust, and the ability to be oneself, express one#s feelings, and ma$e mista$es without fear of "udgment from the friend.While there is no practical limit on what types of people can form a friendship, friends tend to share common bac$grounds, occupations, or interests, and have similar demographics

DEVELOPMENT PSYCHOLOGY:
%n the typical sequence of an individual#s emotional development, friendships come after parental bonding and before pair bonding. %n the intervening period between the end of early childhood and the onset of full adulthood, friendships are often the most important relationships in the emotional life of the adolescent, and are often more intense than relationships later in life. &he absence of friends can be emotionally damaging.

AT CHILDHOOD:
%n childhood, friendships are often based on the sharing of toys, and the en"oyment received from performing activities together. &hese friendships are maintained through affection, sharing, and creative playtime. While sharing is difficult for children at this age, they are more li$ely to share with someone they consider to be a friend .As children mature, they become less individuali'ed and more aware of others. &hey begin to see their friends# points of view, and en"oy playing in groups. &hey also experience peer re"ection as they move through the middle childhood years. (stablishing good friendships at a young age helps a child to be better acclimated in society later on in their life.

AT ADOLESENCE:
A study examined over ),*** American adolescents to determine how their engagement in problem behavior +such as stealing, fighting, truancy, was related to their friendships. Findings indicated that adolescents were less li$ely to engage in problem behavior when their friends did well in school, participated in school activities, avoided drin$ing, and had good mental health. &he opposite was found regarding adolescents who did engage in more problem behavior. Whether adolescents were influenced by their friends to engage in problem behavior depended on how much they were exposed to those friends, and whether they and their friendship groups -fit in- at school

ADULTHOOD:
.ife events such as marriage, parenthood, and accelerated career development can complicate friendships in the transition from young adulthood to middle adulthood. After marriage, both women and men report having fewer friends of the opposite sex +Friendships, /*0/,. Adults may find it particularly difficult to maintain meaningful friendships in the wor$place. -&he wor$place can crac$le with competition, so people learn to hide vulnerabilities and quir$s from colleagues. Wor$ friendships often ta$e on a transactional feel1 it is difficult to say where networ$ing ends and real friendship begins.- 2ost adults value the financial security of their "obs more than friendship. &he ma"ority of adults have an average of two close friends.

LIFE CYCLE: MAKING A FRIENDSHIP:

&hree significant factors ma$e the formation of a friendship possible3

proximity, which means being near enough to see each other or do things together1 repeatedly encountering the person informally and without ma$ing special plans to see each other1 and

opportunities to share ideas and personal feelings with each other.

ENDING A FRIENDSHIP:
Friendships end for many different reasons. !ometimes friends move away from each other and are forced to move on due to the distance. !ometimes divorce causes an end to friendships, as people drop one or both of the divorcing people. At a younger age friendships may end as a result of acceptance into new social groups. Friendships may end by fading quietly away or may end suddenly. How and whether to tal$ about the end of a friendship is a matter of etiquette that depends on the circumstances.

CULTURAL VARIATIONS: ANCIENT GREECE:

Friendship was a topic of moral philosophy greatly discussed by 4lato, Aristotle, and !toics. &he topic was less discussed in the modern era, until the re5emergence of contextualist and feminist approaches to ethics.%n Ancient 6reece, openness in friendship was seen as an enlargement of the self. Aristotle wrote, -&he excellent person is related to his friend in the same way as he is related to himself, since, a friend is another self1 and therefore, "ust as his own being is choiceworthy for him, the friend#s being is choice5worthy for him in the same or a similar way.-%n Ancient 6ree$, the same word was used for -friend- and -lover-.

ISLAMIC CULTURE:
%n %slamic cultures, friendship is also $nown as companionship or ashab. &he concept is ta$en seriously, and numerous important attributes of a worthwhile friend have emerged in %slamic media, such as the notion of a righteous +or saalih, person, who can appropriately delineate between that which is good and that which is evil. 7oncordance with the perspectives and $nowledge of others is considered to be important1 forgiveness regarding mista$es and loyalty between friends is emphasi'ed, and a -love for the sa$e of Allah- is considered to be a relationship of the highest significance between two humans.

EAST ASIA:
&he respect that friends have in (ast Asian culture is understood to be formed from a young age. ifferent forms of relationships in social media and online chats are not considered an official

friendship in (ast Asian culture. 8oth female and male friendships in (ast Asia start at a younger age and grow stronger through years of schooling and wor$ing together. ifferent people in (ast Asian culture have a close, tight $nit, group of friends that they call their 9best friends.: %n Western 7ulture, many people refer to multiple people as their 9best friends:, as compared to (ast Asian culture, where best friends are the /5; people closest to a particular person. 8eing someone<s best friend in (ast Asian culture is considered an honor and privilege. %n a 7hinese context, there is a very strong orientation towards maintaining and enhancing interpersonal relationships. &he relationships between friends in (ast and 7entral Asian culture holds a tight bond that is usually never bro$en until someone geographically moves to another part of the county or out of the country.

TYPES OF FRIENDS: AGENTIC FRIENDSHIPS:

%n an agentic friendship, both parties loo$ to each other for help in achieving practical goals in their personal and professional lives. Agentic friends may help with completing pro"ects, studying for an exam, or helping move houses. &hey value sharing time together, but only when they have time available to help each other. &hese relationships typically do not include the sharing of emotions or personal information.

BEST FRIEND:
8est friends share extremely strong interpersonal ties with each other.

BLOOD BROTHER OR SISTER:

&his term can either refer to people related by birth or to friends who swear loyalty by mixing their blood together. &he latter usage has been practiced throughout history, but is rarely continued today due to the dangers of blood5borne diseases.

BOSTON MARRIAGE:
&his antiquated American term was used during the 0)th and /*th centuries to denote two women who lived together in the same household independent of male support. &hese relationships were not necessarily sexual.

BROMANCE:

A portmanteau of bro and romance, a bromance is a close, non5sexual relationship between two or more men.

BUDDY:
!ometimes used as a synonym for friend generally, -buddy- can specifically denote a friend or partner with whom one engages in a particular activity, such as a -study buddy:.

COMMUNAL FRIENDSHIP:
As defined by !teven 2c7ornac$, this is a friendship in which friends gather often to provide encouragement and emotional support in times of great need. &his type of friendship tends to last only when the involved parties fulfill the expectations of support.

COMRADE:
&his term denotes an ally, friend, or colleague, especially in a military or political context. 7omradeship may arise in time of war, or when people have a mutual enemy or even a common goal, in circumstances where ordinary friendships might not have formed. FAMILY FRIEND: &his term can denote the friend of a family member or the family member of a friend. IMAGINARY FRIENDSHIP: An imaginary friend is a non5physical friend, usually of a child. 7reation of an imaginary friend may be seen as bad behavior or even taboo, but is most commonly regarded as harmless, typical childhood behavior. INTERNET FRIENDSHIP: An internet friendship is a form of friendship or romance which ta$es place exclusively over the internet. &his may evolve into a real5life friendship. %nternet friendships are in similar context to pen pals. 4eople in these friendships may not use their true identities1 parties in an internet relationship may engage in catfishing. PEN PALS: 4en pals are people who have a relationship primarily through mail correspondence. &hey may or may not have met each other in person. &his type of correspondence was encouraged in many elementary school children1 it was thought that an outside source of information or a different

person#s experience would help the child become more worldly. %n modern times, internet relationships have largely replaced pen pals, though the practice does continue.

CONCLUSION:
Friendship is noble. Friendship is divine. A true friend is really a gift of 6od. &here are instances of men sacrificing their lives for their friends. Friendships are an important part of life, but many of us find it difficult to find, ma$e or $eep friends. .ife events, such as moving to another neighbourhood, starting a "ob or having a baby, can isolate us from our former support group and ma$e forging new friendships more important than ever. %n other cases, shyness or poor social s$ills can prevent us from ta$ing the first step in forming a friendship. !o, everyone should $now how to choose a friend and how to honour friendship. %f we wish that our friends should be true to us, then we must be true to our friends.