Healthy Friendships: Your Questions Answered

by Lauren Holleb

Overview

This accessible book explores what friendship is and why it's so important to our well-being and provides practical suggestions for teens and young adults wishing to experience deeper, more fulfilling connections.

What exactly separates a friend from an acquaintance? Can men and women really "just be friends"? How do friendships change as we move from childhood to adolescence to adulthood? How can you support a friend in need, and how should you address conflicts and misunderstandings? This book answers these and many other questions readers may have about friendship.

Part of Bloomsbury's Q&A Health Guides series, Healthy Friendships: Your Questions Answered follows a reader-friendly question-and-answer format that anticipates readers' needs and concerns. Prevalent myths and misconceptions are identified and dispelled, and a collection of case studies illustrates key concepts and issues through relatable stories and insightful recommendations. Each book also includes a section on health literacy, equipping teens and young adults with practical tools and strategies for finding, evaluating, and using credible sources of health information both on and off the internet – important skills that contribute to a lifetime of healthy decision-making.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440867354
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/12/2021
Series:	Q&A Health Guides
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	6.35(w) x 9.55(h) x 0.55(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Lauren Holleb, PhD, is associate professor of Mental Health and Human Services at the University of Maine at Augusta, USA and a licensed psychologist in part-time private practice.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Guide to Health Literacy
Common Misconceptions about Friendship

Questions and Answers
General Information and Definitions
1. What is friendship?
2. How does friendship differ from peer acceptance?
3. So, if you're well-liked by the peer group, does that mean you have good friends?
4. What are social skills, and how are they important to friendship?
5. What serves as the basis for friendship? How do people become friends?
6. What contributes to high-quality friendship?

Different and Changing Friendships
7. How stable is friendship?
8. How does friendship change during adolescence?
9. How does friendship change during adulthood?
10. In what ways are the friendships of boys/girls and men/women the same, and how are they different?
11. What are cross-gender friendships like, and when do they typically form?
12. Why does friendship often change when a friend forms a new romantic relationship?
13. Can you be friends with people who are different from you?

The Impact of Friendship
14. What are the benefits of friendship?
15. How can having a best friend during adolescence be good for you?
16. Is it possible to have the "wrong" friends or "bad" friends?
17. What is co-rumination, and how can it be bad for you?
18. Is peer pressure always bad?

What to Do as a Friend
19. How can you make friends?
20. What are the best ways to maintain friendships?
21. Is it ever acceptable to break a friend's trust?
22. What should you do if you think a friend has betrayed your trust?
23. What should you do when you disagree or fight with a friend?
24. What can you do if you develop romantic feelings for a friend and they are not reciprocated? What can you do if your friend develops romantic feelings for you and you don't feel the same way?
25. How do you know if someone is a true friend?
26. What can you do if you are worried about a friend?
27. What should you do if a friend is making choices that you disagree with?
28. Why do friends drift apart?
29. How do you know if you should end a friendship?
30. In what ways can you end a friendship respectfully?

Current Trends in Friendship
31. Is having a friend online the same as having a friend in person?
32. How has the Internet and social media changed friendship?
33. Is technology bad for friendship? How can the Internet be helpful for friendship?

Research on Friendship
34. In what ways is friendship typically studied?
35. How is social acceptance/peer group acceptance studied?
36. What does research tell us about helping those who struggle with friendship?

Case Studies
Glossary
Directory of Resources
Index