Women and Men As Friends : Relationships Across the Life Span in the 21st Century

This monograph studies women and men as friends from a developmental perspective. Women and Men as Friends examines cross-sex friendships from early childhood through old age, then summarizes the findings and offers recommendations on how friendship between males and females can be encouraged throughout the life span. In each chapter three themes are documented and applied to the corresponding stage of life: *Cross-sex friendships enrich an individual's social network in generic and unique ways. *Social and structural barriers interfere with the formation of cross-sex friendships in every stage of life. *Cross-sex friendships affect and are affected by an individual's ongoing social construction of self throughout the life cycle. The primary audience for the volume is scholars and students in personal relationship study (interpersonal communication, social psychology, sociology) with a secondary audience of scholars in family studies, developmental psychology, and clinical psychologists. The book can also be used as a supplemental text in graduate and undergraduate courses for the relevant disciplines.