friendship

NEW YORK -- A new study confirms what your 130 Facebook friends and scores of Twitter followers may have already told you: The Internet and mobile phones are not linked to social isolation. Online activities such as e-mail, blogging and frequenting Internet hangouts can even lead to larger and more diverse social networks. That's according to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Read more...

Are you tired of all those mushy friendship poems that always sound schmaltzy and saccharine but never actually come close to reality? Well, here is a friendship poem that really speaks of true friendship and truth itself! Dear Friend, When you are sad ... I will get you drunk and help you plot revenge against the sorry bastard who made you sad. When you are blue ... I'll try to Read more...

Are you a people pleaser? If you are, you could be putting your health at risk. According to Les Barbanell, author and psychologist, many people pleasers could be suffering from a pathological condition known as "caretaker personality disorder." In a book, Removing the Mask of Kindness, Barbanell describes how many "nice" people are actually feeling miserable, isolated, Read more...

It was that special time again, the time when Kathleen Welder Carey, 64, gets to see nine of her best high school friends. She cleans her home, prepares the bedrooms and makes an order from Halepaska's Bakery. Carey and her friends, all now between the ages of 63 and 64, all graduated from Victoria High School in 1963. The group reunited at Carey's home to have a good time and Read more...

Kids these days! Why can't they download a video, set up a Facebook page, send out a text or communicate with their parents through a simple video phone service such as Skype? Grandparents are often depicted as hardened technophobes, yet some are asking these very questions as they try to drag their adult children and grandkids into the 21st Century. "I'm seeing it," says Read more...

Scientists have found females aged between nine and 17 have a best friend, while boys of the same age gravitate towards a gang. The study by the National Institute of Mental Health monitored 34 young people and found one-to-one individual relationships tended to become more important for young girls. There are many theories about the affect of friendship on our health. Here are some of Read more...

When it comes to marriage, the seven year-itch is many things: a truism, a cliche, an evolutionary adaptation, a joke. When it comes to friendship, however, it is very, very real. According to a recent study conducted by Dutch sociologist Gerald Mollenhurst, we cycle through half of our friendships every seven years. The study's larger implications upend the idea that we carefully select and Read more...

She's been your friend for as long as you can remember. You've been through ups and downs, sure, but you had never before faced a major communication problem or conflict. Now, however, you find that your friendship is in jeopardy because of a disagreement, misunderstanding, or worse. When anger simmers, and defenses are up, it can be hard to effectively resolve an issue, and that can sometimes Read more...

At the core of every relationship lies chemistry. In the case of friendship, it's all about hormones. Researchers at the University of Michigan have found chemical evidence to support an evolutionary theory of altruism that suggests hormones enable us to suppress our own well-being in order to help others. The researchers examined 160 coeds at the University of Michigan. Baseline Read more...

A U.S. researcher says compulsive Facebook use may be a result of the fact that there's always something new on the social networking site. Nancy Baym, a University of Kansas professor, said on sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, users share status updates, self-generated media, journal entries and other interpersonal communication in a continuous dribble. "It's a continuous Read more...