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The Importance Of Friends And The Difficulty Keeping Them

NPR

Published November 26, 2015 at 12:52 PM CST

Friendship is unlike any other relationship in a person’s life. It can be difficult to define and may carry different meanings for different people. Two friends may describe the degree of their relationship in totally different ways.

While family bonds are typically considered unconditional, friendships are voluntary and thus subject to being set aside when people enter adulthood and “more important” events arise.

Researcher Emily Langan studies friendship. She speaks with Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti about its importance in human development and how it changes over time.

Guest

Emily Langan, associate professor of communication at Wheaton College in Illinois. She tweets @iheartsharpy.