Examining Differences in Friendship Types Between Men and Women and Their Impact on Feelings of Isolation

• In Event: Sociology of Sex and Gender Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 12. Dating, Friendship, and Intimate Boundaries

Abstract

Previous literature has shown that social ties reduce feelings of isolation, however, more consideration could be made into the possible differences friendships may have on feeling alone based on the respondent’s gender as well as identifying the specific ways in which friendships help individuals. To test for potential differences across gender, I estimate interaction and mediation models to compare the effect friends have for men and women and examine which kinds of friendships help address feelings of isolation between male and female respondents. Results show that women experience stronger benefits from having more friends, and the kinds of friendship an individual has impacts isolation differently for men and women. Men particularly favor having friends that they can rely on for their problems while women more evenly prefer having friends they can rely on and express their worries to. Future research should focus on incorporating marital status when examining these relationships, as friendship dynamics have been found to change between married couples and their friends.

Author

• Daniel Yugeun Jang, Baylor University