Orlando, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — We all know how crucial friendships are. 61 percent of U.S. adults believe having close friends is essential for a fulfilling life, surpassing the importance of marriage, children, or wealth. According to a Pew Research study, 53 percent of people claim to have between one and four close friends. However, research also reveals that our social circles have been shrinking over the past 30 years, particularly for men. This trend affects not only the men in our lives but also the women connected to them. Men friendship
From childhood buddies, college classmates, co-workers and bffs, a true friend is hard to find.
Almost 10 percent of people say they don’t have any friends, and another study found that 51 percent of men lack a single confidant for emotional support. And this “male friendship recession” adds to men’s increasing social isolation. Now a Stanford study found the fewer friends men have, the more women spend managing the emotional and social well-being of the men in their lives, and there’s a name for it, it’s called mankeeping!
Mankeeping is the invisible emotional work women do in their relationships with men. It breaks down into three roles: emotional support, building social networks, and teaching social skills like how to listen and ask thoughtful questions.
Experts say for men to cultivate deep friendships, men need to identify a few people they would like to get closer to, be willing to discuss deep feelings with them, and make it a point to show up repeatedly. There are even groups that can help, ManKind Project, Men’s Shed and Men’s circle have created supportive spaces where men can form deeper connections.
A woman’s role when it comes to emotional support doesn’t stop at mankeeping. It seems the burden of kin-keeping usually falls on women too. That involves maintaining relationships and emotional well-being across family connections.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Bob Walko, Editor.
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Sources:
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/10/12/what-does-friendship-look-like-in-america/
