Social

Gender Roles:

Women tend to think more about their responsibilities to specific people; a woman's central moral dilemma is the conflict between her needs and those of others. Men on the other hand are less apt to regard feelings and are more likely to think in terms of justice.

Social Integration: Active engagement in a broad range of social relationships, activities and roles. Social networks can influence emotional well-being as well as participation in healthful behaviors (this is also associated with lower mortality rates).

Social Support: Material information and psychological resources derived from the social network on which a person can rely for help in coping with stress. In stressful situations, people in touch with others are more likely to be less distracted, anxious or depressed.

Friendships in young adulthood:

• Tend to center on work and parenting activities
• Share confidences and advice
• Self-disclosure - revealing important information about oneself to another
• Friendships can vary greatly on level of intimacy, shared interests, and length
• People become intimate and retain intimate through these shared disclosures, responsiveness to each others needs, and mutual acceptance and respect
• Number of friends and time spent with friends tends to decline by middle age
• People tend to have more friends and acquaintances during young adulthood than at any subsequent period
• College students who have strong friendships networks adjust better to stressful life events and have better self-esteem

Gender Differences in Friendships:

Men: 

Men tend to share information and activities. Share confidences with each other on a limited basis, competition can play a part but the focus is usually on social interaction and not winning.

Women:

Women tend to have more intimate friendships than men. More likely to discuss relationship problems. Share advice and support - more likely to confide in each other and tend to have more close friends than men.