The Basics about friendships. How to make them, maintain them, or end them.

How many friends can I really have?
From Project BFF HQ, Terri + Manya riff on the podcast about the so-called Dunbar number–that describes the numerical limits on how many connections an individual can have.The conversation centers around Robin Dunbar, Emeritus Professor of…

Friendship across a lifespan
As we transition between life stages such as adolescence, young adulthood, emerging adulthood, middle age, and later life, our friendships change in many ways.

Lifespan of friendships
Friendships, like most relationships, have a life span ranging from the start to finish, with maintenance in between.

Defining and classifying friends
Friendships are voluntary interpersonal relationships between two people who are usually equals and who mutually influence one another

Friendships when you’re shy
Making friends is about spending time and sharing interests. It doesn’t happen right away for most people. And, by understanding your shyness, and being open to change, it is possible to make new friends.

How to navigate political beliefs with friends
There’s an old adage that says you should never talk about religion or politics in polite company. But it is possible to talk about politics with friends–if you know how.

11 Truths About Friendship Every Girl Needs to Know
Knowing what you do today, it’s interesting to consider what kind of friendship advice you would give to your young self or the young women currently in your life.

Making Friends Who Don’t Look Like Us
Acquiring friends of different races means we need to be thoughtful and make a choice to be diverse in who we become friends with.

Uh Oh. I Don’t Like My Friend’s Friends
Though we often know and appreciate our friend’s friends, that isn’t always the case. Sometimes we don’t like a particular person or the effect she has on our friend. Or maybe she doesn’t like us….

An Ode to the Friends of Our Friends
Many of us have good friends who have good friends we know of. We hear stories about them and their lives—when they succeed, when they struggle—because those things affect our friend. On social media, we…

Friendships Are Rarely Our Primary Relationships
Friendships are rarely our primary relationships; and this can be difficult to navigate for some friends.

When a Friend Dies
The death of a friend can be particularly hard because we don’t get the same level of support for grieving friends.

Friends in the Time of Virus
Humans are social animals. And we need to maintain our friendships, especially at this difficult time.

Text Me When You Get Home: The Proof of the Power of Friendships
We look forward to evenings out with our best female friends for many reasons. These gatherings are a reward after a long week at work, or a welcome change of scenery from managing our household…

Learning About Friendship with a Visit to the Playground
In scrolling through our Facebook timeline we came upon a post, written by a co-worker, describing an afternoon with her daughter in the elementary school playground. It touched our hearts and reminded us that, even in…

Fight Club: Surviving an argument with your bestie
We’ve all been there. If you have friends, at some point you will disagree with each other. Or get on each other’s nerves. Or one of you will do something thoughtless. An argument with your…

Workplace Friendships
When it comes to the workplace, seeing the difference between friends and coworkers can be confusing. But through different bonding experiences, we can create real friendships, eight hours at a time. If you’re working closely…

Friendology: Not A Course, Although That Could Have Been Helpful
Let’s play a short game of Jeopardy! for a moment. The category you’ve selected is Science, and the answer is: According to a recent study, its common themes are: pleasure, reciprocity, commitment, voluntary, and mutual…

Supporting Friends Over the Holidays
Supporting your friends this season is probably – no, definitely – the most important gift you can give them for the holidays. So we’ve come up with four ways to make this season special for…

Using Love Language to Prioritize Friendships
How do we communicate our appreciation for the friends in our lives? As life gets busy and schedules no longer match up, we don’t always have the opportunity in person to show we care, but…

If a Friendship Doesn’t Take Off
You know the feeling. You’ve become part of a group of friends who get together regularly, and there are plans in the works for dinner, drinks, a day trip, etc. It sounds good at the…

Turning Conversation Into Friendship
We all know it can be hard to turn words into actions. But, when it comes to making new friendships, it’s necessary to go from conversations, to hanging out, to then becoming better friends with…

Do You Know It’s Over?
When there hasn’t been a big blowout, a fight through tears followed by a “never hit me up ever again,” how do we know that a friendship is over? Sure, we grow apart as we…

Anxiety Alert: Making New Friends Edition
Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in their life. It’s a primitive emotion, similar to fear, and its job is to help us take care of ourselves. We may feel anxious before a big job interview or…

Helping a Grieving Friend
One of the joys of friends is getting to experience life with them — we’re with them to cheer on their successes and share in their happiness. That also means one of the less fun…