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Friendship is a relationship between two people who hold mutual affection for each other.[1] Friendships and acquaintanceship are 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. Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, including social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, and attachment styles.

The value of friendship is often the result of friends consistently demonstrating the following:

The tendency to desire what is best for the other
Sympathy and empathy
Honesty, even in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth
Mutual understanding and compassion; ability to go to each other for emotional support
Enjoyment of each other's company
Trust in one another
Positively strong, deep, close reciprocity, mutuality — equal give-and-take between the two parties
The ability to be oneself, express one's feelings and make mistakes without fear of judgement.

Ancient Greece

Friendship was a topic of moral philosophy which was greatly discussed by Plato,Aristotle, and Stoics. This was less discussed in the modern era, until the re-emergence of contextualist and feminist approaches to ethics.^[2] Openness in friendship was seen as an enlargement of the self; Aristotle wrote, "The excellent person is related to his friend in the same way as he is related to himself, since a friend is another self; and therefore, just as his own being is choiceworthy him, the friend's being is choice-worthy for him in the same or a similar way."^[3] In Ancient Greek, the same word was used for "friend" and "lover".^[4]

[edit]Islamic

In Islamic culture, friendship, also known as companionship, is taken seriously and numerous important attributes of a worthwhile friend have emerged in Islamic media. These include, for both men ("brothers") and women ("sisters"): The notion of a righteous (or "Saalih") person, who can appropriately delineate between that which is "good" and that which is "evil", has appeared prominently; concordance with the perspectives and knowledge of other Islamic companions is considered to be important; forgiveness regarding mistakes and loyalty between friends is emphasized; and, a "love for the sake of Allah" is considered to be a relationship of the highest significance between two humans.^[5]

The view of the Islamic culture is to keep the relationships between boys and girls to a minimum; on the other hand, however, the only opportunity for a prudent relationship between boys and girls is when they have a serious plan for marriage. Beyond the limits of the family and religious marriage (See Mahram), virtually all emotional, intimate and love relations are despicable and religiously unlawful or a path to pave the way towards great sins. In the past there had been a social acceptance relying the local and traditional criteria which could practically lead to timely marriage at the beginning of puberty; given the above, the main question is how it is possible to regulate the time gap which exists between puberty and the time of marriage, under the present circumstances where as a result of the expanded network of relationships, the society encounters reduced age of puberty and increased age of marriage. The theory of Islamic friendship^[6] seeks to seek feasibility of a regulated management of the period between puberty and the time of permanent marriage, and that upon the theory of Islamic friendship.

[edit]Asia

In Central Asia, male friendships tend to be reserved and respectful in nature. They may use nicknames and diminutive forms of their first names.

[edit]Near East-Middle East

It is believed that in some parts of the Near East-Middle East, friendship has been described as more demanding when compared with other cultures; friends are people who respect each other, regardless of shortcomings, and who will make personal sacrifices in order to assist another friend, without considering the experience an imposition.^[7]

Many Arabian people perceive friendship in serious terms, and will deeply consider personal attributes such as social influence and the nature of a person's character before engaging in such a relationship.^[7]

[edit]Germany

Germans typically have relatively few friends, although friendships that do develop typically last a lifetime, as loyalty is held in high regard.^{[citation needed]} Germans may appear aloof to people from other countries, as they tend to be cautious and keep their distance when it comes to meeting new people.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]Russia

In Russia, one typically accords very few people the status of "friend". These friendships, however, make up in intensity what they lack in number.^{[citation needed]} Friends are entitled to call each other by their first names alone and to usediminutives. A norm of polite behavior is addressing acquaintances by full first name plus patronymic. Acquaintances could include relationships that elsewhere would be qualified as real friendships, such as long-standing workplace relationships, or neighbors with whom one shares an occasional meal or a customary drink.

[edit]United States

Americans also use the term “friend” very freely, referring to someone they have known for a few weeks as a friend, perhaps for lack of a term for someone who is more than an acquaintance but less than a friend (Copeland, 2001). The rise of social networking websites, initially with friendster, followed by others like myspace and facebook, which popularized the concept of "Friend requests", also diluted the traditional meaning of "friend" due to the casual way that many users accept friend requests from people who they have met only once or none at all, whom, once the request is accepted, goes into the first person's "friend list". In the contemporary social media world, "friend" is used in a very casual, low-relationship threshold, manner.

[edit]Decline of friendships in the U.S.>>To read even more on 'Friendships' click here>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship

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