September 8th, 2017: my best friend is the hospital, but not for any reason to make me worry. No, while she and her husband will stay in the hospital for about four days, it’s for one of the happiest reasons anyone could say: they just had a beautiful baby girl. And while Megan and I have been close for over 2 years, I was still surprised when she and her husband said I would be “Aunt Kayla”. Surprised, but happy beyond belief. As Ellie grew over the next month, my friendship with her parents only seemed to grow, and I couldn’t help but wonder just how much friendship really affects our lives. Friendships are a part of human life, a part that we have since childhood. But what we do not realize is that those friendships have a bigger impact on our lives than we know. According to research done by Susan Pinker and backed up by research done at Brigham Young University, friendships help us live longer lives. Pinker said in her TED talk ‘The secret to living longer may be your social life’, “building in-person interaction into our… agendas bolster[s] the immune system… and helps us live longer.” Not only that, but friendships also lessen the effect of depression in our lives. In a study done by Abigail Powers, Dr. Kerry Ressler, and Dr. Rebekah Bradley, it was discovered that in the case of depression caused by childhood abuse and neglect, “perceived friend support predicts lower levels of symptoms of depression…” Also, cross-ethnic friendships in middle school students made the children feel less lonely and safer in school. Friendships have lasting affects every day in our lives, some we don’t notice for months or years. Building and strengthening those friendships will only help young adults even more in their future. Yet, as I researched the effects of friendship, I couldn’t help but wonder why I wasn’t finding research on how to make friends or deepen friendships. Why? If friendships help our lives so much, why don’t more people focus on how to deepen friendships and make new friends? In an age where technology and social media are the primary focus for young adults, it’s getting harder to make real friends. So, maybe it’s time to turn some focus to making friends and deepening current friendship. Doing so would help young adult from ages 18 to 25 live longer lives and feel happier in their future. Helping young adults would be easiest through a blog or website, so they can go through the different topics and find things that will interest them. With this age of technology, a website or blog would be easy to find as well, whether on a tablet, phone or laptop, so easy access will make it more accessible to more people. With different tabs or sections focusing on the effects of friendship, then making friends, then lastly on deepening current friendships, it will make it easier for young adults to find whatever topic or research they want to find. Then hopefully I can help more young adults make new friends, and develop deeper friendships.
References:
Kravitz, Bennett. "Reinventing the World and Reinventing the Self in Huck Finn." Papers on Language & Literature, vol. 40, no. 1, Winter2004, pp. 3-27. EBSCOhost, frccwc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=12519986&site=ehost-live.
Graham, Sandra, et al. "Psychosocial Benefits of Cross-Ethnic Friendships in Urban Middle Schools." Child Development, vol. 85, no. 2, Mar/Apr2014, pp. 469-483. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/cdev.12159.
Hernández-Hernández, Ana María, et al. "Friendship Concept and Community Network Structure among Elementary School and University Students." Plos ONE, vol. 11, no. 10, 19 Oct. 2016, pp. 1-17. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0164886.
Powers, Abigail, et al. "The Protective Role of Friendship on the Effects of Childhood Abuse and Depression." Depression & Anxiety (1091-4269), vol. 26, no. 1, Jan. 2009, pp. 46-53. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/da.20534.
Pinker, Susan. "The secret to living longer may be your social life." TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, April 2017, https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_pinker_the_secret_to_living_longer_may_be_your_social_life
Cooper, Belle Beth. "16 Top Tips from Blogging Experts for Beginners." Buffer Social, July 2016, https://blog.bufferapp.com/blogging-advice-for-beginners-from-16-experts
Ciotti, George. "10 Proven Ways to Build a Website that Customers Will Love." Help Scout, May 2013, https://www.helpscout.net/blog/website-customers-love/