section_path: Forming and maintaining
section_name: Forming and maintaining
paragraph_text: Forming and maintaining
  
  Forming and maintaining friendships often requires time and effort.
  
  Friendships are foremost formed by choice, typically on the basis that the parties involved admire each other on an intimate level, and enjoy commonality and socializing.
  
  Given that friendships provide people with many mental, social, and health benefits, people should want to associate with and form lasting relationships with people who can provide the benefits they need. Thus, people have specific friendship preferences for the types of behaviors and traits that are associated with these benefits. Recent work on friendship preferences shows that while there is much overlap between men and women for the traits they prefer in close same-gender friends (e.g., being prioritized over other friends, friends with varied knowledge/skills), there are some differences: women compared to men had greater preference for emotional support, emotional disclosure, and emotional reassurance, while men compared to women had greater preference for friends that offer opportunities for accruing status, boosting their reputation, and will provide physical aid.
  
  Most people underestimate how much other people like them. The liking gap can make it difficult to form friendships.
  
  According to communications professor Jeffery Hall, most friendships involve tacitly agreed-upon expectations in six different areas:
  
  Not all relationships have the same balance of each area. For example, women may prefer friendships that emphasize genuine positive regard and deeper self-disclosure, and men may prefer friendships with a little more agency.