Psychology Today November 5, 2021 “The 7 Types of Friends, and Which Is Most Essential for Our Happiness” “Less-intimate friendships may matter more than you thought” By Suzanne Degges-White, Ph.D.
Read Psychology Today for all the details.
Summary offered by 2244
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Key points
7 Types of Friendship...all are important
“Feeling...part of a larger community can positively affect life satisfaction and longevity”
Make the connection with others to “change your own life for the better”
What friendship or friendships come to mind first? Your partner, your best friends from childhood, your “current band of brothers” or “girl squad”, co-workers you’re tight with, or “your neighbors you hang with as you watch the kids play, the dogs romp, the coffee perk, or the grass grow?”
All these friendships are important
Here are the seven categories
Lifelong friends
Best friends
Social group friends-party with but maybe not too close
Activity friends-golf, tennis, gym, book club, dinner club, church circles
Friends of convenience-those you collaborate with to carpool, to coach your children’s teams, neighborhood watch etc.
Acquaintance friends-those you see at work, while walking the dog, or speak with but “not about anything of consequence or especially personal.”
Do you need these friend types?
Researchers have discovered that “having a variety of social interactions in the course of your week” has value. All friend types are related to life satisfaction, longevity, “psychological and physical health.” Even the novelty of having a variety of friends reportedly “affects life satisfaction.”
Regardless of your age etc. it’s “important to cultivate a multi-faceted network of friendships.” These interactions can get you out of your “comfort zone” and provide other perspectives and ways of looking at and living life.”
Respondents in a study regarding friendships is revealing. Half felt they had too few close friends, a larger fraction felt they had enough and few felt they had too many. What’s right is not surprisingly a highly individual preference. In this study, one-tenth had one close friend, about half had two or three, a third had four to six and one-tenth had seven or more.
“What type of friend is most essential to our happiness?”
Interestingly “overall contentment with life” was most correlated with “the number of acquaintanceship” friends.
“Does a Friendly Smile and Pleasant Word Change Your Life?”
“There’s a lot to gain from the friendly greetings or brief chats you offer to your mail-person or Amazon driver, the dog walkers who pass your window, the cashier at the pharmacy”...etc. Engaging, making a connection “can make a positive difference in your overall well-being.”
“Smile more, engage more, and live a longer and happier life.”
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