section_path: Demographics/Gender differences
section_name: Gender differences
paragraph_text: Gender differences
  
  In general, girl-girl friendship interactions among children tend to focus on interpersonal connections and mutual support. In contrast, boy-boy interaction tends to be more focused on social status, and may discourage the expression of emotional needs. Girls report more anxiety, jealousy, and relational victimization and less stability related to their friendships. Boys, on the other hand, report higher levels of physical victimization. Nevertheless, boys and girls tend to report relative satisfaction levels with their friendships.
  
  Women tend to be more expressive and intimate in their same-sex friendships and have fewer friends. Men are more likely to define intimacy in terms of shared physical experiences. In contrast, women are more likely to define it in terms of shared emotional ones. Men are less likely to make emotional or personal disclosures to other men because the other man could use this information against them. However, they will disclose this information to women (as they are not in competition with them), and men tend to regard friendships with women as more meaningful, intimate, and pleasant. Male-male friendships are generally more like alliances, while female-female friendships are much more attachment-based. This also means that the end of male-male friendships tends to be less emotionally upsetting than that of female-female friendships.
  
  Women tend to be more socially adept than their male peers, among older adults. As a result, many older men may rely upon a female companion, such as a spouse, to compensate for their comparative lack of social skills. One study found that women in Europe and North America were slightly more likely than men to self-report having a best friend.