Where do people go to meet friends in the digital age? How do people understand with whom they want to be friends? Drawing from qualitative interviews, participant observation, and content analysis, I examine the website Meetup.com, which allows people to search for common interests on the Internet and meet up with groups of people face-to-face. My study offers new insights into why people turn to the Internet to meet new people; how voluntary organizations determine who they want as their members; and how gender and sexuality shape people's friendships and participation in these groups. This thesis has larger implications for the study of friendship, voluntary organizations, social capital, and Internet studies. / text

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This dissertation consists of two studies: the first focuses on reliability of chimpanzee personality and subjective well-being (SWB) scores, the second on validating those scores by comparing them to subjective assessments of behavior in dyads. The first measured reliability of scores of personality and subjective well-being (SWB) across ten years. Dominance rank, and the Dominance and Extraversion Factors significantly correlated between time points. In the second study, I investigated the impact of personality, SWB, and demographic characteristics on individual variation in dyadic-level individual behavior. Age predicted likeability in females, and age and rank predicted likeability in males. Neither personality factors nor SWB were correlated to likeability. An Affable domain scale and an Agonistic domain scale were constructed from the personality items. The Affable domain scale correlated with chimpanzees who were scored high neutral in social interactions, and the agonistic scale correlated with low neutral score in social interactions.

This study on the friendships of young men aimed to explore how young men perceive and experience their friendships. It also sought to understand whether and how young men negotiate issues of care and support in their friendships. The sample consisted of 10 students aged between 18 and 25 years old. The study was guided by a qualitative design. Semi - structured in - depth interviews were conducted with the young men. Thematic analysis was used as the method of data analysis. It was found that young men value elements within their friendships such as the opportunity to confide personal information, receive guidance and empathy from friends. The young men value care and support in their friendships, and these are expressed through both relational and instrumental means. While the young men acknowledge the importance of emotional support, they report that it is a precarious matter which needs to be negotiated within the friendship. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

This study on the friendships of young men aimed to explore how young men perceive and experience their friendships. It also sought to understand whether and how young men negotiate issues of care and support in their friendships. The sample consisted of 10 students aged between 18 and 25 years old. The study was guided by a qualitative design. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the young men. Thematic analysis was used as the method of data analysis. It was found that young men value elements within their friendships such as the opportunity to confide personal information, receive guidance and empathy from friends. The young men value care and support in their friendships, and these are expressed through both relational and instrumental means. While the young men acknowledge the importance of emotional support, they report that it is a precarious matter which needs to be negotiated within the friendship. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

In the unique post-war and post-socialist arena several recent studies onformer Yugoslavian countries indicate that young people confronted by challengesof risk and uncertainty are turning away from the national and politicalsphere. Instead, they often seek trust and opportunities in their networks and relationshipson a personal level. This thesis explores the narratives and everydaypractices of young adults in Sarajevo regarding their friendship sociabilities. The aim is to provide an insight on how friendships are characterised, experiencedand related to the specific social and economic organisations that influencesthem. Based on fieldwork carried out in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina myproject wants to present how young adults are reflecting and developing aspirationsin the light of their available choices and opportunities in life and how theyare using their friends in order to access various types of benefits and support. It is argued that in specific contexts friendships constitute the main social capitals and orientation points for young people. In order to explore and navigate through the different interests and agendas present in their community when it comes to personal education, career development and housing young peoplenecessarily choose to favour the reliance on their informal solidarities in form offriendships.

During old age there are many challenges that the elderly have to meet. These challenges can include adapting to diminished bodily abilities, decreased intellectual vitality, the death of a spouse and the loss of friends, adapting to new roles and activities, a change in income, a change of housing conditions and retirement. Due to advanced technology and to more sophisticated medical services, life expectancy has changed significantly, which implies that generally speaking people could grow older and that they have to deal with life transitions and daily demands. Friendships enable people to cope better with life transitions and challenges. Very little research, however, is available on the friendship patterns of the elderly. A quantitative, single cross-sectional survey study was conducted where 200 elderly people in South Africa were interviewed by means of a semi-structured questionnaire. The purpose of the research was to investigate friendship patterns among the elderly, and to confirm whether or not people have fewer friendships as they grow older. Data has been statistically analysed by means of frequencies. Results indicate that as people age, they indeed have fewer friendships due to the death of friends, transport problems, illness and the fact that friends moved away. It was also found that although the number of friends becomes fewer, friendship is still regarded as an important aspect. Suggestions are made regarding the value of having different kinds of friendships, which will promote resilience and create more social resources to deal with challenging life transitions. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

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That a lack of economic resources negatively affects the social relations of children is often assumed, sometimes described, but rarely tested using methods allowing generalization. When addressing this issue, previous research has largely been limited to self-reported data on social relations. This thesis uses peer reported measures of social relations in combination with survey and register data to examine the effect of economic resources on the probability of social isolation and on the number of school class friendships of Swedish adolescents. While not entirely unambiguous, the results indicate that a lack of economic resources negatively affects the social relations of children, at least in regards to the school class social relations of adolescents. The results point to the importance for adolescent’s social relations of having the economic and material possibilities to participate in the social life and in the activities undertaken by peers.