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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FRIENDS AND TYPES OF FRIENDSHIP
Everyone has at least one best friend, some
maybe even more. There are also those people who are
just friends and also arch-enemies. People may think
that just because they are your friends it means that they
[5] are your best friend. The thing is, even though they are
your friend, the relationship between a best friend and a
friend is different. Either way regardless of archenemies,
friends or best friends, there are not many
ways to compare any of these different types of friends,
[10] but you can easily contrast them from one another.
Arch-enemies often know more about each
other than two friends. In a comparison of personal
relationships, friendship is considered to be closer than
association, although a wide range of degrees of
[15] intimacy ∃ in friendships, arch-enemies, and
associations. Friendship and association can be thought
of as spanning across the same continuum. The study of
friendship is included in the fields of sociology, social
psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and zoology.
[20] Even animals have familiars! Various academic theories
of friendship have been proposed, among which are
social exchange theory, equity theory, relational
dialectics, and attachment styles. In Russia, one typically
bestows very few people the status of “friend”.
[25] These friendships, however, make up in
intensity what they lack in number. Friends are entitled
to call each other by their first names alone, and to use
diminutives. A customary example of polite behavior is
addressing "acquaintances" by full first name plus their
[30] patronymic. These could include relationships which
elsewhere would be qualified as real friendships, such
as workplace relationships of long standing, or neighbors
with whom one shares an occasional meal or a social
drink with.
[35] Also in the Middle East and Central Asia, male
friendships, while less restricted than in Russia, tend to
be reserved and respectable in nature. They may use
nicknames and diminutive forms of their first names. In
countries like India, it is believed in some parts that
[40] friendship is a form of respect, not born out of fear or
superiority. Friends are people who are equal in most
standards, but still respect each other regardless of their
attributes or shortcomings. Most of the countries
previously mentioned (Russia, Asia, and even the Middle
[45] East) and even our own nation are suffering a decline in
genuine friendships.
According to a study documented in the June
2006 issue of the Journal American Sociological Review,
Americans are thought to be suffering a loss in the
[50] quality and quantity of close friendships since at least
1985. The study’s results state that twenty-five percent
of Americans have no close confidants, and the average
total number of confidants per citizen has dropped from
four to two. According to the study, Americans'
[55] dependence on family as a safety net went up from fiftyseven
percent to eighty percent; Americans dependence
on a partner or spouse went up from five percent to nine
percent.
Recent studies have found a link between fewer
[60] friendships, especially in quality, and psychological and
physiological regression. In the sequence of the
emotional development of the individual, friendships
come after parental bonding and before the pair bonding
engaged in at the approach of maturity. In the
[65] 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 experienced later in life.
[70] Unfortunately, making friends seems to trouble
many of people. Having no friends can be emotionally
damaging for all ages, from young children to full grown
adults. A study performed by researchers from Purdue
University found that post-secondary-education
[75] friendships, college and university last longer than the
friendships before it. Children with Asperger syndrome
and autism usually have some difficulty forming
friendships. Socially crippling conditions like these are
just one way that the social world is so difficult to thrive
[80] in. This does not mean that they are not able to form
friendships, however. With time, moderation and proper
instruction, they are able to form friendships after
realizing their own strengths and weaknesses.
There is a number of theories that attempt to
[85] explain the link, including that; Good friends encourage
their friends to lead more healthy lifestyles; Good friends
encourage their friends to seek help and access
services, when needed; Good friends enhance their
friend’s coping skills in dealing with illness and other
[90] health problems; and/or Good friends actually affect
physiological pathways that are protective of health.
Regardless of what we think, we can clearly see that
there are some ways that friends, best friends and archenemies
are the same, but in the end they are clearly
[95] more different. Nonetheless we all have every single
type in our lives.
(Adapted from: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/philosophy/therelationship- between-friends-and-types-of-friendship-philosophyessay. php)
The expression “coping skills” (line 89) is closest in meaning to
