Regular drinking with friends ‘essential to men’
Women make time to keep friendships via constant communication, while men ‘just find more guys to go drinking with’
Men essentially need routine drinking meet-ups to maintain bonds with friends, a UK scientist says.
Evolutionary biology Professor Robin Dunbar at Oxford University claims it is necessary for men to have beers with friends to sustain their social networks.
But for women, having a frequent conversation is more crucial to keeping the friendship.
Dunbar presented gender distinctive determinants that contribute to having long-lasting friendships. He reached his conclusion after observing 30 subjects’ social circles dating from childhood to adulthood.
His conclusion was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston recently.
The “survived” friends of women, or those with a substantial number of friends, clearly made efforts to socialise through phone calls or social network services.
For men, however, talking was not an effective technique to maintain bonds. They remained friends when they shared some activities together such as going to a football match or a pub.
“The caricature is if you move away to another town, girls will be on the phone or Facebook with each other to keep the relationship going,” he said, according to The Times.
“With guys, it is out of sight out of mind. They just find more guys to go drinking with.”
