66 Who Are Our Friends?
“opposite- sex friendship,” let us move to some observations about current knowl-
edge on same- and opposite- sex friendships. From this point forward the term
“other- sex” takes the place of “opposite- sex” because it is less problematic.
Current Knowledge on Adult Same- and
Other- Sex FriendshipsDespite observations from scholars that adult friendships are an understudied social
relationship (Muraco, 2012), there is nonetheless a robust empirical literature
going back at least to 1935 for adult same- sex friendships (Vreeland & Corey) and
1937 for other- sex ones (Kirkpatrick). However, it is important to note that empiri-
cal studies of other- sex friendships did not begin in earnest until the investigations
conducted by Booth and Hess (1976) and Rawlins (1982). The adult friendship
literature becomes even more unmanageable when considering that theoretical
treatises on adult friendships in Western societies have their origins in the writings
of Aristotle over 2,300 years ago (1980).
The sheer volume of friendship materials available necessitate restricting the
time frame to about the last 30 years and narrowing the focus to four broad descrip-
tive generalizations. No doubt, important works on friendship will be missing from
this chapter, which in no way diminishes their importance. Academic friendship
scholars should also acknowledge that some of the more profound descriptions of
friendship do not appear in the academic literature, but instead can be found in
film, poetry, literature, and music. For instance, friendship scholars like myself can
pontificate as much as we like about the “functions of friendship” (Monsour, 2002),
but none have said it better than Kahlil Gibran when he wrote, “And let there be no
purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit” (1923).
Four Broad Descriptive Generalizations
Four broad descriptive generalizations about the same- sex and other- sex friend-
ship literatures are made in this section. No claim is made that these generalizations
comprehensively reflect the voluminous amount of material available. For example,
I particularly call the reader’s attention to the growing role of modern technology in
friendships (see Ledbetter, chapter 6, this volume).
Similarities and Differences in Same- Sex
and Other- Sex Friendships
The first generalization focuses on the similarities and differences between same-
sex and other- sex friendships. On the most fundamental and significant level,
both types of friendships are similar in that they are each variations of the same