The costs of family and friends: an 18-month longitudinal study of relationship maintenance and decay
Evolutionary theory predicts that kin relations will be distinct from friendships, but recent studies have suggested a degree of similarity between these two types of relationships. In this longitudinal study, we examined the influence of kinship on the maintenance costs of social relationships. We...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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2011
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| _version_ | 1797052603111047168 |
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| author | Roberts, S Dunbar, R |
| author_facet | Roberts, S Dunbar, R |
| author_sort | Roberts, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Evolutionary theory predicts that kin relations will be distinct from friendships, but recent studies have suggested a degree of similarity between these two types of relationships. In this longitudinal study, we examined the influence of kinship on the maintenance costs of social relationships. We followed 25 students over an 18-month period as they made the transition from school to university and examined the association between kinship, relationship maintenance and decay. The emotional intensity of friendships, in comparison to kin relations, was more sensitive to decreases in contact frequency and more sensitive to decreases in the number of activities done together. These results demonstrate that important differences between kin relations and friendships emerge when the relationships are considered longitudinally and suggest that the costs of maintaining friendships are much higher than the costs of maintaining kin relations. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:33:49Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:0a8fe8a0-ee1a-47de-b70f-06da958af4a5 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:33:49Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:0a8fe8a0-ee1a-47de-b70f-06da958af4a52022-03-26T09:24:30ZThe costs of family and friends: an 18-month longitudinal study of relationship maintenance and decayJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0a8fe8a0-ee1a-47de-b70f-06da958af4a5EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2011Roberts, SDunbar, REvolutionary theory predicts that kin relations will be distinct from friendships, but recent studies have suggested a degree of similarity between these two types of relationships. In this longitudinal study, we examined the influence of kinship on the maintenance costs of social relationships. We followed 25 students over an 18-month period as they made the transition from school to university and examined the association between kinship, relationship maintenance and decay. The emotional intensity of friendships, in comparison to kin relations, was more sensitive to decreases in contact frequency and more sensitive to decreases in the number of activities done together. These results demonstrate that important differences between kin relations and friendships emerge when the relationships are considered longitudinally and suggest that the costs of maintaining friendships are much higher than the costs of maintaining kin relations. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. |
| spellingShingle | Roberts, S Dunbar, R The costs of family and friends: an 18-month longitudinal study of relationship maintenance and decay |
| title | The costs of family and friends: an 18-month longitudinal study of relationship maintenance and decay |
| title_full | The costs of family and friends: an 18-month longitudinal study of relationship maintenance and decay |
| title_fullStr | The costs of family and friends: an 18-month longitudinal study of relationship maintenance and decay |
| title_full_unstemmed | The costs of family and friends: an 18-month longitudinal study of relationship maintenance and decay |
| title_short | The costs of family and friends: an 18-month longitudinal study of relationship maintenance and decay |
| title_sort | costs of family and friends an 18 month longitudinal study of relationship maintenance and decay |
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