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Investigating the Role of Friendship Interventions on the Mental Health Outcomes of Adolescents: A Scoping Review of Range and a Systematic Review of Effectiveness

Associated data.

All relevant data included in the paper and Supplementary Materials .

Friendships are crucial in adolescent development. This paper presents a scoping review, followed by a systematic review, to assess friendship interventions and their impacts on the mental health outcomes of adolescents aged 12–24 years. Studies were included if they incorporated a friend or authentic social group in an intervention dedicated to improving mental health outcomes and well-being. Twenty-four studies were included in the scoping review, and eighteen in the systematic review. Data from 12,815 adolescents were analysed; three prominent themes emerged. The most common theme was promoting mental health literacy, followed by supporting help-seeking, and friendship-building/combating isolation. Most evaluations focused on the individual who had received the intervention, rather than their wider friends who would have been potential contacts and experienced any altered interactions. Of the studies focusing on friendship-building, all had positive short-term outcomes but inconclusive long-term effects. Two studies recruited friends from an individual’s authentic social group. While opportunities for improving mental health literacy and help-seeking emerged as key themes, the role of friends in mental health interventions has only been included in a small number of studies. Given that friends are a key point of contact for many adolescents, a better understanding of their domains of influence, particularly on mental health, will potentially enhance interventions.

1. Introduction

Adolescence is a particularly formative period in lifespan development and constitutes a significant portion of an individual’s life. The period of adolescence, existing between 10 and 24 years of age, is characterised by social, behavioural, and physical changes, including substantial structural and functional development of the brain [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. One of the defining tasks of adolescence is for individuals to learn to navigate complex social relationships, independently make more decisions that can have long-term impacts, establish their own identity, and form intimate relationships [ 4 , 5 ].

Friendships are usually mutually beneficial relationships that individuals voluntarily engage in [ 6 ]. Friends can share similar interests, and friendships are often uniquely intimate bonds in an adolescent’s life [ 6 , 7 ]. Previous studies have revealed friendships to be essential to adolescent development [ 8 , 9 ]. Not only do friends become increasingly important during adolescence, but as adolescents start spending more time with their friends, they often prioritise these relationships over others [ 10 ]. Typically, the nature of adolescent friendship undergoes significant changes during this developmental period as friendships become more intimate and peer crowd affiliations become more important [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ].

However, the developmental changes that individuals experience during adolescence can also put them at higher risk for mental illness, with suicide becoming the fourth leading cause of death among 15–29-year-olds [ 12 ]. Depression, anxiety, and behavioural disorders are most prevalent during adolescence, with 50% of those who will have lifelong mental health difficulties starting to experience problems by the age of 14 [ 12 , 13 ]. Adolescent depression is linked to a multitude of psychological difficulties in adulthood. It can limit opportunities at a crucial developmental stage [ 14 ], potentially impacting long-term on an individual’s social life, relationships, occupational choices, and socioeconomic status [ 14 ].

As friendship takes precedence over a variety of relationships in adolescence, it has the potential to impact a young person’s development and well-being significantly. Research has revealed that adolescents are more likely to turn to their friends, rather than trained professionals or other adults, when in crisis or feeling depressed [ 15 ]. Young people also tend to have a higher sense of comfort and trust around their peers than with other contacts in their life [ 16 ].

A study measuring friendship quality during early and pre-adolescence found that individuals involved in a ‘mutual friendship’ relation show higher well-being than those without one [ 17 ]. Positive experiences with peers or social groups, such as being accepted by a peer group or feeling validated, are associated with a positive evaluation of the self, greater well-being, and fewer internalising problems [ 18 , 19 ]. Friends have also been shown to protect against depressive symptoms during adolescence, with adolescents displaying increased prosocial behaviour toward their friends who feel socially excluded [ 20 , 21 ]. Moreover, they may provide neurobiological advantages, as research shows that friendships contribute to decreased cortisol levels during stressful events [ 22 ]. Friendships have been shown to provide adolescents with cognitive and social scaffolding, and adolescents with friends report feeling happier on average and having greater self-esteem [ 9 , 23 ]. Compared to being alone, spending time with peers after experiencing stressors has also been associated with lower feelings of sadness and worry in adolescents [ 24 ].

An adolescent’s authentic social group is defined by the social company they keep, namely referring to their friends. Authentic social groups for adolescents can include all of the individuals they consider a friend. They are voluntary social relations with mutual benefits that adolescents engage in as part of their peer-group affiliation.

In the past few years, more studies have emerged on peer-support-based interventions for mental health among youth [ 25 , 26 ]. Researchers have described many types of peer-support programs, such as those classified as “self-help” programs, based on simultaneously helping oneself and others. Self-help is a mutual process without a dichotomy between the helper and the person being helped. Membership in self-help is neither mandated nor charity [ 27 ]. Another type of peer-support program is “mutual support,” where individuals or friendship groups voluntarily come together to help each other address common problems and share concerns [ 28 ]. Most popularly, previous research on “peer interventions” has focused on an assigned-buddy system to help adolescents with mental health difficulties. This is when an adolescent is matched with a peer, often older, for mentorship, usually with similar mental health experiences.

To our knowledge, there have yet to be any reviews of the breadth of adolescent friendship interventions for mental health. Past reviews have explored peer-mentor interventions and their mental health effects [ 29 ], but none have explored interventions involving adolescents’ authentic social groups or friends. This review hopes to address this gap in the literature. The primary purpose of this study is first to use a scoping review approach to identify, map and synthesise the existing literature on friendship interventions and the different roles they might play in supporting adolescent mental health outcomes. Then, we will direct a systematic review to assess the studies where the efficacy of friendship interventions has been evaluated on mental health outcomes in adolescents. The resulting review will help inform the growing evidence base of friendship interventions and mental health outcomes for adolescents.

2. Materials and Methods

Search strategy and selection criteria.

As a result of the emergent state of the evidence of using friends and friendships to improve and support adolescent mental health outcomes, a scoping review approach, followed by a systematic review, was chosen as most appropriate for this study. In general, a scoping review is most helpful in examining the extent and range of research in any given area while identifying gaps in the literature [ 30 ].

Past peer-based interventions have varied dramatically from each other, and it is unclear how an adolescent’s authentic social group has been formally utilised as a part of these mental health interventions. Therefore, to best synthesise the literature, broad search terms were translated across the following databases in April 2022: EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, CENTRAL, and MEDLINE. Google Scholar and OpenGrey were further searched for grey literature. For the Google Scholar searches, the results of the first twenty pages were screened by the first author. The first twenty pages included 200 results, and this search strategy was employed based on the probability that there would not be any relevant results after twenty pages [ 31 ]. The initial search terms listed in the protocol were further developed with the help of an expert in information technology (EH). Supplementary Materials contain an example search from one of the databases; pilot searches were conducted, and terms were refined to ensure the search returned relevant results. Searches were kept as consistent as possible throughout databases, and MeSH terms and Boolean operators (along with truncations) were used. The search was limited to papers published between 2000 and 2022, and no restriction was placed on language. Forward and backward citation searches were conducted on the papers included in the study, as well as any related papers.

3. Scoping Review

3.1. methodology.

We conducted our scoping review following the methodological framework proposed for scoping reviews by Arksey and O’Malley and adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines [ 30 , 32 ]. The protocol was pre-registered online [ 33 ].

The scoping review aimed to identify and map the types of friendship-based mental health interventions in adolescent populations. The current literature uses the terms “friends/friendships” and “peer/peer-groups” interchangeably; however, this review included research conducted primarily using individuals’ authentic social groups.

The same search strategy was used for both the scoping and systematic review. The scoping review included all relevant papers, regardless of the type and quality of the study. Once the search was completed and duplicates removed, titles and abstracts were screened before full-text review. TM screened titles and abstracts for relevant papers using Rayyan. Studies were coded for acceptance based on the preliminary inclusion/exclusion criteria defined in the protocol. For the scoping review, we decided to remove the criteria of only including studies with a minimum of 10 participants (from the protocol) due to the small number of studies on friendship interventions to try to capture as much information as possible from the available literature.

While adolescence spans between the ages of 10 and 24, our populations of interest were adolescents in secondary school and higher education (defined as 12–24 years). Studies were included if they contained some form of an intervention or a proposed intervention; for those described in multiple publications, the most relevant or most recent publication was included. We excluded studies which addressed peer interventions where the peers in the intervention were not necessarily the adolescents’ friends. However, as the literature uses peer interchangeably with friend, we included “peer intervention” as a synonymous search term and manually excluded studies where the peer was not an authentic friend. Next, we excluded studies which did not have mental health or well-being as one of their outcomes.

We used a descriptive, thematic method to summarise the results. Once the included papers were identified, they were read and screened for mental health themes. We then categorised them into themes based on what each study was targeting, following a similar method to the 2021 review by King and Fazel.

3.2. Scoping Review Results

The search resulted in a total of 37,585 articles, of which 37,284 articles were excluded. Following screening the abstracts of the remaining 301 articles, 276 articles were excluded. A final total of 24 studies and grey literature items were included in the review. See Figure 1 for a summary of the search results. The included studies consist of randomised control trials (RCTs), quasi-experimental studies, pre-post studies, protocols, and programmes for adolescent friendship support and interventions. They are summarised in Table 1 .

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Flowchart depicting a summary of searches and results for scoping review.

Characteristics of included items for scoping review organised by theme.

Eight areas focusing on mental health and well-being emerged when examining the included papers (n = 24) (see Table 1 ). Most of the included interventions involved training adolescents to better recognise signs of mental illness in a friend and provide support or encourage help-seeking. All but one study occurred in a high-income country, and almost all of the studies were in English-speaking countries. More studies took place in Australia (n = 12) than anywhere else, with six taking place in the United States of America, three in the United Kingdom, and one in each of Japan, Switzerland, and India. The high number of Australian studies likely reflects the prominence of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), and its evaluation, across the country [ 34 ].

Both younger adolescents (aged 12–18) and older adolescents (aged 19–24) were included in the studies. Out of the 24 papers, 60% (14) were interventions delivered in person, 32% (8) were interventions exclusively delivered using virtual platforms, and 8% (2) were interventions with both an in-person and remote delivery component.

Figure 2 shows a diagram mapping out the types of studies included in the review and the themes under which they were identified. Three major themes emerged as a result of the review: general mental health and well-being, improving help-seeking, and friendship-building/combating isolation.

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Mapping targets of the included friendship interventions.

3.2.1. General Mental Health and Well-Being

All of the papers, in some way, targeted the improvement and maintenance of general mental health and well-being. However, eight papers were solely focused on general mental health and well-being. A majority of these programmes were delivered using virtual platforms (n = 5) [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], with two programmes delivered in person [ 40 , 41 ] and one programme delivered both in person and remotely [ 42 ]. Interventions varied from one standalone 50 min session to a programme delivered over six weeks. Some interventions were led by trained teachers in a school, while trained ‘experts’ led others. Two of the included studies were self-directed mental health apps with the aim of equipping adolescents with skills and knowledge to help their friends deal with mental illness. These apps included resources such as videos, which equip adolescents with the skills they need to manage their mental health and support a friend in need. Two studies used and evaluated the MHFA intervention to improve mental health literacy and help-seeking skills among adolescents [ 36 , 40 ]. The dosage varied across studies; for example, one of the remote interventions was delivered using a virtual platform to participants for four hours daily over five consecutive days, by trained peer support experts [ 37 ], whereas another consisted of text messages sent to participants multiple times a week for eight weeks [ 35 ]. Sessions were informative, and included an aspect of interactivity or an applied demonstration of learned skills—a common theme seen throughout all interventions targeting general health and well-being.

3.2.2. Improving Help-Seeking

Generally, adolescents experience a number of barriers to accessing help as well as concerns about how to provide help to others [ 16 ]. Many of the papers we identified worked to address this issue by focusing on improving the help-seeking attitudes of adolescents, either for themselves or for a friend.

Two studies exclusively focused on the mental health of male adolescents and improving help-seeking among them. Both of these studies were delivered in person. One was delivered to a male sports team, and the intervention aimed to increase MH literacy and train adolescents on accessing appropriate resources for themselves or a friend [ 43 ]. The intervention was called “Help Out a Mate (HOAM)” and consisted of slideshow presentations, facilitated discussions between participants and presenters, and role-play. Male volunteers with lived experience of mental illness delivered the intervention. The other study implemented a psychoeducational intervention called “Silence is Deadly”, a 45–50 min presentation delivered in secondary schools by trained presenters who act as male role models and included local celebrity athletes as guest presenters [ 44 ]. The presentation included videos, informational handouts, and a resource website. It primarily fixated on reducing self-harm in male adolescents by having discussions tailored to the male audience, including strategies on how to help a friend who is struggling mentally, and guiding adolescent males on how to seek help from adults or professionals when needed.

Two studies looked at substance use and mental health. Both used the “Making the Link” intervention, which is a school-based programme specifically developed for teachers to incorporate into their curriculum to facilitate student help-seeking. The intervention consisted of fictional scenarios, videos, and discussions, including a discussion where students discussed the best way to talk to a friend who may need professional help. Out of the two studies using this intervention, one focused on mental health and cannabis use [ 45 ] and the other targeted alcohol abuse and depression [ 46 ].

There were five studies with the primary aim of suicide prevention amongst adolescents, three were delivered in person [ 47 , 48 , 49 ], one was delivered remotely [ 50 ], and one was delivered both in person and remotely [ 51 ]. One of these studies used a teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) intervention, which works to improve general mental health literacy, while also increasing help-seeking intentions, and confidence to provide help to a friend in need.

One of the interventions focused on eating disorders in adolescent girls [ 52 ]. This intervention took place during a brief classroom lesson, delivered by the school psychologist. The intervention provided 13-year-olds with the skills necessary to identify and support potential eating disorders in their friends. They were provided with sample language for how to support a friend with an eating disorder, making them aware of the fact that friends turn to each other when under mental distress and the importance of support and guidance towards professional help.

Lastly, two of the included studies aimed to facilitate direct support from friends. One study followed a psychotherapy/peer counselling approach [ 53 ]. This online-delivered intervention focused on helping pairs of friends develop skills to support one another in times of distress. The individuals had to practice giving psychological support in a scenario both pre- and post-intervention during a laboratory visit. The second study involved a friend to improve the well-being of adolescents with type 1 diabetes, as well as increase the emotional support offered by their friends [ 54 ]. The adolescent with diabetes was asked to bring one of their close friends to an appointment. This friend was educated about their diabetic friend’s condition and given training to help directly support them.

3.2.3. Friendship-Building/Combating Isolation

One study targeted isolation and loneliness [ 55 ]. This intervention took place in person and was delivered to all first-year undergraduate engineering students. Students were allocated into a group during a university induction event, where they completed activities to form and strengthen friendship ties with other individuals in the group. The intervention aimed to build friendships in order to combat social isolation and provide a source of social support for mental well-being.

There were two interventions, one in India [ 56 ] and one in Australia [ 57 ], that were delivered remotely (over the phone) and in person, respectively. Adolescents in these studies were mainly provided with skills to create a social support and friendship network to help their well-being and mental health. In the Indian study, professionals were trained and assigned 10–15 students to offer telephone support to. They would engage in phone calls with the students, listen to their mental distress, offer support using counselling skills, and teach them how they could access support for their distress from their friends and family. The Australian intervention used two programmes in conjunction (Resourceful Adolescent Program and Peer Interpersonal Relatedness programme) to combat depression through friendship-building and friendship support. The interventions were delivered in a school setting and whole classrooms were assigned to receive them.

One intervention delivered in person in Australia addressed social connectedness as a main outcome [ 58 ]. This pilot study was delivered by trained leaders, under the supervision of clinical psychologists, to psychologically distressed and socially isolated university students in an effort to improve social networks and connectedness and ultimately improve mental health and well-being.

Throughout all of these interventions, mental health literacy was a prominent theme. All of these interventions were trying to improve mental health literacy in a variety of ways. Some interventions tried to directly improve mental health literacy amongst adolescents [ 36 , 49 ], and most aimed to first improve mental health literacy and then teach participants how to apply the mental health literacy skills by teaching them to support a friend who may be exhibiting symptoms of mental distress.

4. Systematic Review

The scoping review allowed us to map the research landscape of existing friendship interventions for adolescent mental health. It illustrated key themes and concepts addressed in the included studies and identified the types of studies which have been conducted. In order to better understand the evidence existing around the effectiveness of the included friendship interventions, a systematic review was then conducted to identify, appraise, and synthesize those studies identified that had available evaluation and post-intervention data (i.e., RCTs; pre-post studies).

4.1. Methodology

The PICO (population, intervention, comparator, outcome) approach was employed for this review [ 59 ]. The systematic review was completed following the PRISMA 2009 guidelines [ 60 ] and registered with Prospero (CRD42022354516).

4.2. Inclusion Criteria

The inclusion criteria for the systematic review are described above, as it followed the scoping review with a few additions; it only included published papers that assessed an intervention and were either RCTs, quasi-experimental studies, or pre-post studies. Protocols and grey literature were not eligible for inclusion in the systematic review. There was no limit placed on the number of participants in the study. We included studies that looked at the intervention’s outcomes as well as both qualitative and quantitative studies.

4.3. Quality of Included Studies

TM initially filled out the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) for the studies included. Four studies were then forwarded to MF to evaluate independently; three were chosen at random, and one was selected by TM.

The included studies had some variation in their methodological quality. Most of the included studies were judged to contain possible limitations in at least one criterion (94.4%, 17/18). Almost all of the studies were clear in their description of study participants or the process of recruiting a sample representative of the population of interest (94.4%, 17/18). All but one study [ 54 ] included a sample size of 50 or more adolescents, which allowed the authors to warrant conclusions about the efficacy of the interventions. All of the studies targeted mental health outcomes or well-being in some way and had a clear research objective that they addressed in their study.

4.4. Systematic Review Results

4.4.1. description of studies.

A total of 37,585 studies were identified after database searching and screened for relevance. Out of these studies, 18 were eligible for inclusion in the systematic review (see Table 2 for data summarization and Figure 3 for flowchart). The included studies contained an approximate total sample size of 12,815 adolescents. The adolescents ranged from the age of 12.2 to 24.6. Of the included studies, ten were randomized control trials [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 46 , 47 , 50 , 51 , 53 , 55 , 57 ], three were pre-post studies [ 45 , 48 , 54 ], with one study each of a cluster randomised crossover trial [ 49 ], a two-arm controlled trial [ 44 ], a non-randomized control trial [ 58 ], a cluster randomised controlled trial [ 43 ], and a quasi-experimental trial [ 41 ]. All of the included studies were peer-reviewed published articles and evaluated the short-term and/or long-term effects of an intervention. All of the studies included both friendship-related interventions or outcomes and mental health outcomes. Sample sizes of participants ranged from n = 42 to n = 2456. Included interventions addressed general mental health and well-being, depression, self-harm, male mental health, and isolation/loneliness. All of the interventions included MH and well-being literacy as part of their outcomes, even if the intervention was more focused on, for example, teaching direct support skills. Most of the interventions took place in school or classroom settings, consistent with where many adolescent peer group affiliations occur [ 8 ]. Some interventions were delivered exclusively in-person, others were exclusively remote or online and some had both in-person and remote components. Interventions ranged from being delivered in a single 45 min session to a weekly session spanning 11 weeks. As a result of the heterogeneity found between interventions, a meta-analysis was not possible and a narrative synthesis of the results is presented.

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Flowchart depicting summary of searches and results for systematic review [ 60 ].

Characteristics of included studies for systematic review.

Note: * Denotes approximate age of participants, as the study provided grade information only.

4.4.2. Intervention Outcomes

The interventions included in the systematic review had great variation in the outcomes they reported. General mental health and well-being interventions were the most popular, and all studies reported better mental health outcomes and literacy among friends trained (FT) in the intervention. Information about friends receiving (FR) help from their trained friends was inferred, as it was not directly provided for most of the interventions. Figure 4 depicts an overview of the studies included in the systematic review. Participants were recruited from three different sources in the included studies (schools, universities/colleges, or their communities). The interventions were delivered either remotely, in person, or using a combination of the two. There were two main sets of outcomes for the included interventions, outcomes on FT and inferred outcomes on FR, which are discussed below.

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An overview of the studies evaluated in the systematic review, illustrating the typical implementation and results of the included interventions. Note: FT denotes friends trained in the intervention. FR denotes friends receiving support. MH denotes mental health.

4.4.3. Inferred Outcomes of Intervention on FR

The outcomes of the intervention on FR were not directly measured and were inferred through self-reported data provided in studies by FT. There were three primary inferred outcomes of the intervention on FR. First, the intervention allowed FT to directly provide support to FR. In some studies, such as the one by Hart et al. (2022), the follow-up survey revealed that FT had used their newly learned skills to provide help to a friend in need [ 49 ]. Similarly, Craig Rushing et al. (2021) found that adolescents who received the text-message intervention reported helping a friend in need using their acquired knowledge (35). A zoom-based intervention also had FT report that they helped a friend with mental health difficulties following the intervention (37). Next, a common outcome was that FT would encourage FR to seek support for their mental health from an adult or a professional, such as a psychologist or counsellor. Damour et al. (2015) reported that the trained adolescents would encourage their friends whom they noticed suffered from disordered eating to ask for support from a school counsellor [ 52 ]. Lastly, FR were helped by FT to reach out directly to an adult or professional to provide help. Damour et al. (2015) also reported this as an outcome of their intervention, where FT reported directly seeking help from an adult for a friend they were concerned about [ 52 ]. Similarly, a study employing MakingTheLink intervention reported that FT sought help from adults following concerns about a friend [ 45 ].

4.4.4. Outcomes of Intervention on FT

There were three major outcomes of the interventions on FT that were measured and reported: FT showed an increase in mental health literacy, knew where to seek support for themselves and others (improved help-seeking), and had increased confidence to support their friends.

4.5. Mental Health Literacy

There were 18 interventions included in the systematic review, and 10 of them aimed to improve the mental health literacy of adolescents on some level (refer to Table 2 ). While these interventions varied in their dosage (one short classroom lesson, to multiple lessons over weeks), their target population (some targeted males only), and their follow-up time, they all showed promising results for increasing mental health literacy among adolescents. One intervention, delivered over the course of five classroom lessons in three weeks, was evaluated through a single-arm trial and concluded that the Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) programme was successful in improving mental health literacy and reducing depression in FT as depression severity declined ( p < 0.001) at post-intervention and six months following the intervention period [ 48 ]. In another intervention, delivered in three classroom lessons, tMHFA, showed improvements in adolescents’ mental health literacy where, 12 months after receiving the intervention, trained adolescents rated adults as helpful sources for mental health aid [ 49 ]. A shorter 45 min male-targeted intervention, Help Out a Mate (HOAM), also reported increases in knowledge about depression and anxiety for trained adolescents, with the knowledge being retained for four weeks post-intervention [ 43 ].

4.5.1. Improving Help-Seeking

Changes or increases in help-seeking attitudes toward friends, along with the confidence to support a friend in emotional distress or going through a mental health illness, were reported in many studies. One trial evaluated the quality of mental health first aid intention provided by adolescents who had received the teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) intervention. The study reported that participants receiving the intervention provided better quality support to hypothetical friends in a fictional scenario with a mental illness [ 49 ]. The primary purpose of this intervention was to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of adolescents so that they can better support their friend(s) in a mental health crisis. This study also found that confidence to help a friend significantly improved more after the tMHFA intervention, and was retained for 12 months after the intervention, when compared to the control condition. A few of the included interventions employed MHFA [ 36 , 40 , 49 ], and all yielded positive results. Consequently, there is reasonable evidence to support the use of MHFA programmes, which increase MH literacy in adolescent friendship interventions while equipping them with confidence to seek help and provide support.

Similarly, a study employing a student help-seeking programme called “Making the Link” found that students after the intervention were more likely to seek help for themselves and a friend and were significantly more informed about mental health and substance abuse disorders [ 45 ]. This was further supported by another randomized control trial which found similar increases in help-seeking behaviour when employing the same intervention for a different substance abuse disorder [ 46 ]. The intervention included a shorter training time than the one by Hart et al. (2022) at two brief sessions, in the hope that “Making the Link” could be a scalable intervention incorporated into the school curriculum.

The Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) programme was successful in increasing the help-seeking intentions of FT towards their friends ( p < 0.001) at post-intervention and six months following the intervention period [ 48 ].

One study used a pre-post design to evaluate the individuals’ skills to support their friends with diabetes [ 54 ]. Diabetic adolescents were asked to bring a best friend with them to the intervention. The intervention focused on improving the quality of direct support provided by FT and was successful as it increased individuals’ knowledge about their friend’s condition and taught them ways in which they could offer support. Following the intervention, FT provided a significantly higher amount of support to their diabetic friends [ 54 ]. However, no similar interventions were identified in the literature.

Similarly, the web-based intervention in the study by Bernecker et al. (2020) asked participants to bring an individual from their existing social circle for participation. This was the only peer-counselling course intervention found in the literature, and it evaluated whether peers can be trained to provide non-professional psychological support to one another. The study found significant results where participants who took the web-based counselling course were better listeners and better at offering support to their friends [ 53 ].

A 2015 study by Damour et al. worked on improving the help-seeking attitudes of FT toward their friends displaying signs of an eating disorder [ 52 ]. After the intervention, FT were more likely to seek help from an adult for a friend at risk of an eating disorder. The likelihood of reporting concerns about the disordered eating of friends was measured at baseline, immediately following the intervention, and approximately three months later. Variables (the willingness to talk to a friend about eating behaviours, encouraging a friend to talk to an adult, talking directly to an adult about a friend’s disordered eating) were measured at each interval and comparisons were made between the eighth and ninth graders. The results suggest that intervention programmes such as this one can be implemented successfully in high schools and might be advantageous for reducing or managing disordered eating behaviours and the risks associated with them [ 52 ].

4.5.2. Friendship Building

The three studies that had interventions aimed at friendship building as a primary outcome had different findings at long-term follow-up. One of these interventions looking at younger adolescents (12.2 years old) used two different kinds of interventions concurrently (RAP and PIR) to improve adolescent social networks and promote depression literacy, help-seeking, and teach support skills [ 57 ]. RAP incorporates cognitive behavioural therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy principles to teach adolescents how to think resourcefully, problem solve, identify and access support networks, etc. PIR teaches adolescents about the importance of friendships, what peers look for in a friend, social skills training, resolving conflicts with a friend, etc. The combination of these two interventions significantly reduced depressive symptoms, while significantly increasing social functioning with friends relative to their friends in the other conditions [ 57 ]. Another friendship-building intervention looked at older adolescents (first-year undergraduates) and, in order to facilitate friendships, students were assigned to groups for activities. The study evaluated both short-term and long-term effects of the intervention and found that although students made friendships through which they sought emotional support in the short-term, these friendships had diminished by the one-year follow-up [ 55 ]. Lastly, one of the interventions, Groups for Health (G4H), recruited undergraduate students and included those who screened positive for psychological distress and social isolation [ 58 ]. The G4H intervention tried to increase social connectedness and group identity formation in an effort to help participants build friendships to combat social isolation and psychological distress. The intervention successfully improved mental health, well-being, and social connectedness, both immediately after the intervention and at a six monthly follow-up. Furthermore, the participants maintained their social group identification at follow-up [ 58 ].

Only one intervention (Kognito Face2Face) incorporated the use of simulations and virtual peers to train adolescents in how to support their friends with a mental illness or in times of emotional distress [ 50 ]. The intervention was successful in eliciting supportive responses from participants, and participants were more likely to support a friend in times of mental distress after the intervention [ 50 ].

5. Discussion

There are compelling reasons to focus on friendships for adolescent mental health interventions given the prominence of these relationships for this age group. The studies included in this scoping review and systematic review mainly targeted three broad and overlapping areas: general mental health and well-being; help-seeking attitudes for the person in the intervention or their friends; and, finally, friendship building and combating social isolation. The studies identified in both the scoping and systematic reviews reported here, highlight how, especially in the area of mental health literacy, there is good evidence that this is likely to be helpful, especially for the friend being trained in the intervention (FT) and possibly for the friend receiving (FR) the intervention.

In the scoping review of 24 studies, almost all the interventions focused on how friends being trained (FT) can support members of their own social circle who may present with mental health difficulties or distress. Only two of the studies reported the effects of the intervention on the friend receiving (FR) mental health support [ 53 , 54 ]. A broad range of different interventions were tried, covering those improving general mental health literacy to male-only interventions targeting the reduction of self-harm. Some of the interventions, such as MHFA and “Making the Link”, have been well studied with consistent positive findings [ 40 , 45 , 46 , 49 ]. The majority of other interventions are novel, or at least novel in their implementation as an adolescent friendship intervention. Of note, most of the interventions have been studied and developed in Australia, with the majority of the rest in other high-resource settings.

The systematic review assessed the efficacy and feasibility of friendship interventions for adolescent mental health. The included RCTs mostly evaluated the effects of the interventions on FT. There was a total of 12,815 adolescents included in the 18 studies identified in the systematic review. The mental health first aid interventions were most promising for increasing mental health literacy among adolescents, and also the ones used most commonly. Long-term effects of the interventions on either FT or FR were not assessed—specifically, long-term effects on mental health and well-being. However, all of the included studies reported some positive effects of the intervention on adolescents’ mental health and well-being, especially immediately after the intervention.

The first onset of major depressive disorder can, for many, occur around the time of early adolescence [ 61 ]. As adolescents are more vulnerable to mental health disorders, it is imperative to explore prevention and intervention methods to reach larger populations. Past research has demonstrated that friendships during adolescence can reduce depressive symptoms, especially in high-risk populations who can be harder to reach by mental health professionals [ 62 ]. This review aimed to map and evaluate the types of friendship interventions which exist and their role in adolescent mental health outcomes in an effort to understand the role of informal mental health supports, such as friends.

Of the relatively small number of friendship mental health interventions that have been studied, most vary in their training time, trainer qualifications, and delivery (being in person and/or online), making comparisons difficult. Interventions delivered in-person, as well as delivered remotely, have both had positive outcomes. For example, a zoom-delivered intervention [ 37 ] reported that FT utilised skills to help a friend with mental illness, and a text-message-based intervention also reported FT using their newly learned skills to help a friend [ 35 ]. Along the same lines, interventions delivered in-person also produced positive outcomes such as increased mental health literacy and increased ability to provide support.

The shortest intervention, delivered in a single 45–60 min in-person session, reported improved help-seeking intentions for FT but did not find an improvement in confidence to support a friend [ 44 ]. This may suggest that a single session may not be enough to train adolescents to support their friends or increase their perceived ability to help their friend. However, another 45 min single-session intervention reported that the intervention increased intentions to provide help to a friend, but no improvement was observed for help-seeking attitudes or intentions [ 43 ]. While both of these studies were in-person interventions, male-targeted, and short in length, it is unclear why one improved help-seeking intentions and one did not, or why one had no effect on confidence to provide help to a friend and one increased intentions to provide help to a friend.

Sample characteristics in the studies were equally varied and included students attending public or private schools as well as university students from less deprived backgrounds. Craig Rushing et al. (2021) included an entire sample from a less-represented group and Aseltine and DeMartino (2004) included a partial sample of students from a disadvantaged neighbourhood [ 35 , 47 ]. The results, therefore, need to take into account potential differences in these samples; it might be that adolescents who face adversity may be at higher risk of mental health disorders, and as a result may potentially benefit more from such interventions [ 62 ]. Furthermore, adolescents from disadvantaged backgrounds may turn to informal sources of support more readily as there might be limited provision in their areas or they might have delayed access to formal supports such as those offered by mental health services.

There were few interventions that directly targeted an adolescent’s social group. Most of the interventions indirectly targeted adolescents’ friends by teaching MH support skills and increasing MH literacy so that adolescents could better support their friends who may be going through mental distress in the future. Only two studies brought in members from an adolescent’s authentic social group to teach them how to support their friends [ 53 , 57 ]. Of note, both these studies reported successful outcomes and worked to promote support skills. One intervention was delivered entirely online and to an older adolescent population over the course of four weeks [ 53 ], and the other was delivered entirely in person to a younger adolescent population over 11 weeks [ 57 ]. Moreover, none of the interventions had any long-term follow-up data; the longest was a 12-month follow-up for a befriending intervention and did not assess mental health and well-being at the follow-up [ 55 ]. Some interventions were delivered once for less than an hour, while some were conducted over several weeks. Almost all of the interventions included an element of interactivity during the training process—this manifested in the form of role-plays, group/partner discussions, and fictional scenarios, for example. Making the programme interactive might be important to encourage engagement amongst adolescent participants.

Figure 2 maps out the range of the interventions included in the review. While the interventions covered different concerns, there were many gaps identified through this review. First, the interventions lacked information about the direct outcomes on FR, with minimal information providing evaluations of friend helpfulness on FR. Second, the included studies did not identify the types of friends that adolescents may turn to, for example, understanding if the friends they reach out to are primarily in-person or online. This is an important area to clarify as the online era has allowed adolescents to keep in touch with their friends, as well as build their friendships, through different platforms, such as social media, with the classification of friendships becoming more sophisticated [ 63 ]. Recent literature has found online social platforms to be beneficial for adolescent friendships, with younger adolescents with access to online platforms at times using online and offline communication with little differentiation [ 64 ]. Apart from social media, communication through and during online gaming is also a popular way of online communication and friendship-building among adolescents, as spending time working together on the same task can strengthen friendships [ 64 ]. Social media can also serve as a supportive platform, as active adolescent users of social media report seeking informal support from friends and peers online, which is why it is important to introduce interventions which involve online friends and understand whether these interventions can play a role in enhancing online friendships [ 65 ]. Third, none of the studies looked at interventions to help adolescents support each other in times of grief, trauma, or loss, even though research suggests that emotional support is the most desired type of support following a traumatic loss and adolescents desire increased support during these time from their friends [ 66 , 67 ]. Fourth, the interventions included here did not employ some important evidence-based active ingredients, such as behavioural activation, which works by increasing engagement with positive activities, and is proven to be successful in reducing depression for young people [ 68 ]. Another active ingredient not employed or evaluated by the included studies was self-evaluation. Studies highlight the importance of positive self-evaluation as an active ingredient in the treatment of adolescent depression [ 69 ]. Finally, the included studies did not investigate social inclusion as a component of their intervention, an important area to better understand. Interventions should have explored educating adolescents about the poor mental health outcomes of being socially excluded, as research shows that some adolescents are prosocial and empathetic towards their socially excluded peers [ 21 ]. Adolescents struggling with mental illness can also often feel ostracised among their friend groups, and so finding ways to reduce that might be needed to enable their friends to become more socially included with their larger peer group.

Based on the findings of this review, it is evident that friendship interventions to support adolescent mental health are sparse. Furthermore, the risks of friendship interventions need to be better understood and addressed in future studies. As some of the studies are implemented in schools, and some are implemented privately, as a part of a sports team, or in treatment for individuals, it is unclear what the best approach would be for an effective intervention. Friendship interventions that worked to improve mental health literacy reported positive outcomes, and future interventions should consider continuing to incorporate mental health literacy as part of their programmes. Based on the themes of the interventions included in the scoping review (see Table 1 ), it is evident that there are many targets for adolescent friendship interventions. However, as some mental health and well-being outcomes have only been targeted by a single intervention, there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions.

Further, the effects of the intervention on FR (as seen in Figure 4 ) should be evaluated in greater detail to understand if the intervention is being successfully delivered to FT and encouraging them to provide appropriate and helpful support. No intervention directly measured the quality or helpfulness of the support received by FR. This sheds light on a substantial gap in the literature to ensure the intervention benefits the target individuals.

6. Strengths and Limitations

This review has a number of strengths. It is the first of its kind to comprehensively investigate the literature on friendship interventions and their role on adolescent mental health outcomes. The review was widespread, as it included multiple large databases and expansive search terms to try and capture all the interventions, including friends/friendships. The scoping study in the first instance also allowed us to capture and report grey literature that adds to the overall representation of friendship interventions in mental health research. Organising the papers by theme allowed us to paint a clearer picture of the types of mental health outcomes targeted by friendship interventions for adolescents. Systematically reviewing the interventions published and tested allowed us to highlight the gaps in the literature, such as the lack of studies evaluating FR and the lack of long-term outcomes for interventions. This review also highlighted the potential for friendship interventions as a valuable tool to help provide support to adolescents who may not immediately have access to formal sources of mental health support.

This review has several limitations. Firstly, although the search criteria were comprehensive, it may not have captured all of the papers involving friendship interventions. Friendship interventions are sparse and remain largely unexplored. The terminology used in papers which employ friendship interventions is inconsistent. As a result, some papers using unconventional terminology may have been missed. However, due to the nature of the literature around friendship interventions, search terms had to be broad to capture relevant results.

Secondly, most interventions’ mental health and well-being outcomes were not empirically measured using a valid and reliable scale or measure of mental health. This may have led to inconclusive or undetermined changes in mental health and well-being as a result of the intervention, and could not allow us to effectively determine the impact of adolescent friendship interventions on adolescent mental health. While broad age ranges of adolescents were represented in the review, it is still unclear which of the included interventions, if any, can be used interchangeably for younger or older populations of adolescents. The interventions also mostly focused on self-help or improving mental health literacy. The focus was rarely concentrated on solely providing support to friends, as this was often a secondary or tertiary outcome. Next, as long-term outcomes of the interventions were not evaluated, it is unclear whether booster doses of the intervention are needed periodically to revive adolescents’ knowledge and ability to provide helpful support to their friends. Another notable limitation is the delivery of the intervention programmes. Some interventions used trained staff to disseminate the programme, whereas others trained teachers in a school and others recruited youth volunteers with lived experience of mental illness. This may have led to biases in intervention presentation, as some trained leaders may have had some pre-existing relationship with the students (i.e., teachers). As a result, specific interventions may show inconsistencies in effectiveness depending upon the individual delivering them to the adolescent. Lastly, the included interventions, coming mainly from high-income countries, had limited adaptation for different socio-cultural contexts. Friendship dynamics and values can differ across cultures [ 70 ], and future studies should delineate which type of interpersonal interaction is being targeted if working in a new environment. Identifying components that can be tailored, within interventions, to different contexts will likely better enable interventions to be delivered in new areas. The many apparent gaps in intervention research on mental health will hopefully serve to encourage the development of friendship interventions for adolescent mental health support in the future.

7. Conclusions

This scoping and systematic review aimed to collect and assess the literature on friendship-based interventions and their role in adolescent mental health. A comprehensive search was carried out on multiple databases to ensure a broad range of the literature was captured. While the search yielded many results, the papers eligible for inclusion were few. Most of the included studies aimed to improve mental health literacy amongst adolescents to better equip them to support themselves and their friends. Help-seeking attitude improvement was also a notable theme. Most of the interventions worked to either improve social support, teach individuals about the signs of mental illness in their friend, or improve confidence to support a friend. The interventions mainly focused on the friends trained (FT) and their outcomes.

Friends are seldom involved in mental health interventions, despite being a key source of informal support for adolescents, especially at times of crisis [ 15 , 71 ]. The importance of friends for many adolescents, and the support they provide to each other during adolescent development, is indisputable. This review sheds light on the friend interventions studied to date. Friendship interventions have the potential to improve and protect adolescent mental health. They can be implemented in a natural setting, using the adolescents’ pre-existing social circle as a source of informal support. The results highlight how little is known about this important potential area of mental health intervention, and developing a multifaceted lens of enquiry into whether and which supports might best be delivered by which friends, might enable more adolescents to access support in their times of need.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Holly Bear for her guidance and Eli Harriss from the University of Oxford Bodleian Libraries for her help in developing the search strategy.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/ijerph20032160/s1 , Sample search criteria.

Funding Statement

There was no specific funding source for this study. MF is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed to the manuscript. The specific contributions are as follows: conceptualization, T.M., M.F. and A.S.; data curation, T.M. and M.F.; formal analysis, T.M. and M.F.; methodology, T.M. and M.F.; supervision, M.F. and A.S.; writing—original draft, T.M.; writing—review and editing, T.M., M.F. and A.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

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How to Write a Friendship Essay

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A friendship essay is precisely what it sounds like: a paper that students write to describe their relationships with their mates.  It is among the many assignments that students are given in their college institutions.  Writing essays about friendship is a great way to analyze what the connection means to you and reflect on some of your encounters. It can also be used as a tool to improve your closeness and affection. This blog post offers tips you may consider while writing your paper and its outline. It features friendship essay examples that help generate ideas that form the primary focus of your paper.  If you are not ready to waste your time on essay writing, StudyCrumb is here to offer affordable prices and professional writers.

What Is a Friendship Essay?

The definition of friendship essay is quite clear and straightforward. A paper about friends can be described as a write-up on a relationship between two or more people. This interpretation makes it easier to obtain the meaning of friendship essay.  Writing such thematic essay will help you communicate your feelings as well as your thoughts. It allows you to recollect your memories about different encounters you have had in life. It will also help you evaluate qualities of your connection.  While writing, you may have a sequence of events starting from your meet-up, activities you have done together, and how you have sustained the connection. Preparing an essay about friendship can evoke memories from your past that may have been long forgotten.

Purpose of an Essay on Friendship

This kind of essay aims to help you explore its nature and form, its pros and cons, and its role in your life. The importance of friendship essay is that it acts as a reflective tool. It helps you realize the significance of creating and maintaining good relationships with friends. It also explains how these connections contribute to your overall wellness. In addition, an article about friendship may teach you to understand that true friendship is priceless and should stand the test of time.

Ideas to Write a Friendship Essay on

Writing essays about friendship is a more manageable task than drafting a paper about a topic that may require more detailed research. Any excellent essay about true friendship starts with an idea that you can examine.  Below are some unique ideas you can explore:

  • What is friendship?
  • What does friendship mean to me?
  • The value of friendship you cherish in your life.
  • Cross-cultural friendships.
  • The role of friendship in mental health maintenance.

As you reflect on your relationship with your friend, see if you can write a paper incorporating these themes. Remember to choose an idea that interests you and is relevant to your personal experiences or research. Be sure to support your arguments with evidence and examples from real-life situations, literature, or academic research. Look through our definition essay topics or persuasive essay ideas to find a theme that suits your task best.

Friendship Essay Outline

An essay outline about friendship is a summary of what your write-up will contain but in a less detailed format. You use it to organize and structure your content logically and effectively. It presents the main topics and subtopics hierarchically, allowing writers to see the connection between different parts of the material. The importance of an outline lies in its ability to help writers plan, organize, as well as clarify their ideas. This makes the writing of an essay about friends more efficient, and the final product is more coherent and effective. Here is an example of an outline for a friendship essay.

  • Briefly introduce the topic of friendship
  • Provide a thesis statement that summarizes the main points of the essay
  • Topic sentence
  • Your main argument
  • Real-life examples that support your key idea
  • Supporting evidence
  • 3rd Body Paragraph
  • Examples or recommendations
  • Summarize the main points
  • Provide some food for thought

Note that this is a general outline. The exact structure and content of your essay will depend on the specific requirements of your assignment and your personal interests.

Structure of a Friendship Essay

The structure of an essay on friendship typically includes the following three parts.

  • Introduction An introduction should grab the reader's attention and provide background information. It should also include a clear thesis statement that sets a path and direction of the friendship essays.
  • Body The essay's body is where you will provide evidence and details to underpin your thesis statement. It should consist of several paragraphs supporting and developing a statement of purpose. Each paragraph should focus on a specific aspect of your friendliness, such as its importance, benefits, or challenges.
  • Conclusion Briefly summarize the essay's main points and reinforce your principal argument. The conclusion should leave a lasting impression on readers and emphasize your topic's significance. Overall, the structure should be clear and well-organized, allowing the audience to follow your argument and understand the topic's significance.

Friendship Essay Introduction

A good introduction about friendship essay should grab the reader's attention and encourage them to continue reading. This can be achieved through a " hook ," a quote, an interesting fact, or a thought-provoking question. Background information can then be provided to give context to the discussed topic.  The introduction to an essay about friendship should also clearly state your main point or argument of the piece, known as thesis statement. This sets pace for the rest of the paper and gives readers a clear view of what to expect. A friendship essay introduction should be concise, engaging, and provide context for the audience to understand the content fully.

Read more: How to Start off an Essay

Friendship Essay Introduction Example

Here is an example of a friendship essay introduction that sets the stage for a reflective and thought-provoking exploration of the most precious gift in life.

Friendship is a special bond that unites two individuals with common interests, experiences, and emotions. It makes life easier and contributes to our happiness. It is a relationship that transcends race, religion, and socio-economic status and has power to sustain and uplift the spirit of humans. In this essay, I will explore its benefits and how it can contribute to a better world. Through personal anecdotes, I will illustrate the bond's depth and role in our day-to-day lives.

Friendship Essay Thesis Statement

The friendship thesis statement aims to provide a summary of the essay's main point. It can be one or two sentences which you develop as you research. The statement of purpose should focus on the central argument and be supported by evidence presented in the body. The thesis statement about friendship should guide the essay's structure. Its main objective is to provide your reader with a roadmap to follow. It should be specific, concise, and accurately reflect the content in your paper. Understanding what constitutes a strong thesis is crucial for writers as it is integral to every essay writing process.

Friendship Thesis Statement Example

The thesis statement must be clear to readers so that they may quickly recognize it and comprehend the paper's significance. It should act as a blueprint of what to expect. A friendship thesis statement sample could be:

In this essay, I will explore friendship's meaning, its importance, benefits, drawbacks, and how it can contribute to a better world. Through a series of personal anecdotes, I will illustrate the bond's depth and its key role in our lives.

Friendship Essay Body

The body part should include five or more paragraphs. Students will use body paragraphs to elaborate on the key factors that make their connection special.

  • Definition and explanation. This friendship body paragraph should start with a definition and a brief explanation of its characteristics and qualities.
  • Importance of friends. Discuss why it is vital in your life and how it contributes to personal growth and welfare.
  • Types of friendships. A paragraph about friendship should discuss different types of friend's relationships that exist.
  • Qualities of a good friend. Discuss standards a great confidant should possess.
  • Challenges. Discuss the common problems that friends face.
  • Ways to strengthen friendship. Provide tips on reinforcing and maintaining good relationships.
  • Conclusion. Sum up the key points made in your essay and reiterate the importance of genuine bonds in life.

Friendship Body Paragraph Example

Below is a friendship body paragraph sample.

How to Spend Free Time with Friends • Outdoor Activities. Spending time in nature is a great way to bond with friends. You can meet, then go for a hike, take a walk, or go to a picnic in a park. This allows you to connect and enjoy the beautiful world around you. • Movie Night. Watching a movie is another fun activity you can do with friends. You can share popcorn, grab snacks, and enjoy a movie together. This is a great way to relax and unwind. • Board Games. Playing board games with friends is a fun and interactive way to spend free time. You can play classic games like Monopoly. This is a great way to challenge each other and have a good time.

Friendship Essay Conclusion

Any conclusion on a friendship essay should sum up the main ideas discussed in your essay and restate the thesis statement. It should leave a lasting impression and provide a closure to your topic. To start writing a conclusion about a friendship essay, commence by rephrasing the thesis statement in different words. Summarize the points discussed in your essay by connecting them back to your statement of purpose. End conclusion with a final thought or call to action that leaves a lasting impression on your reader.  It is vital to keep it concise yet impactful. Avoid introducing new information or arguments, as it can confuse readers. Instead, focus on tying up loose ends and emphasizing main ideas discussed in your essay.

Read more: How to Conclude an Essay

Friendship Essay Conclusion Sample

Here is an example of a friendship essay conclusion:

In conclusion, friendship is an essential aspect of our lives that brings joy, support, and companionship. It is a relationship built on mutual trust, understanding, and love. A true friend will always be there for you, no matter what. As humans, we need sincere friends to help us navigate life's ups and downs and provide emotional support. An understanding friend can withstand any obstacle and bring happiness to our lives. The connection is meant to last a lifetime, whether through shared experiences, interests, or simply a common bond. Ultimately, having a close group of loyal friends who truly care for us is one of the greatest gifts we can receive in life.

How to Write an Essay on Friendship?

To write an essay about friendship, start by brainstorming ideas about what friends mean to you and the benefits of such kinds of relationships. Knowing how to write a good essay about friendship involves selecting a great topic and arranging your content in a manner that has logical flow.

1. Come Up With a Topic About Friendship

To brainstorm essay topics on friendship, consider the following.

  • Reflect on your own experiences. Think about your own bonds and encounters you have had with allies. Avoid bad occurrences. This can inspire topics to explore in your essay. To find a subject that interests you, you can also look through internet examples of friend essays.
  • Ask questions related to friends, such as "What makes a meaningful connection?" or "How does the quality of your bond change over time?"
  • Talk to others. Ask friends, family, or classmates about their experiences. They may have interesting insights that can inspire new topics for your essay.

Ensure that topic you select is appropriate for your report style. For example: 

The Day my Best Friend Changed My Life.

You can start this topic by how you met, narrate your story, and then pick out some attributes of a good friend and the advantages of the relationship. Remember to choose a topic on friendship essay that you feel passionate about and can explore in depth in your essay.

2. Do Research

To research and collect information for the friend essay, follow these steps.

  • Start with a general search. Use search engines like Google to find articles, books, and other resources on affection.
  • Identify keywords. Determine the most relevant keywords for your essay, such as "essay about a friend." Use them in your search to narrow down results to the most pertinent information.
  • Evaluate sources. When you have a list of potential sources, evaluate each to determine their credibility and relevance. Look for sources that are written by experts in the field and that have been peer-reviewed or published in reputable journals.
  • Take notes. As you read, take notes on the most important and relevant information.

3. Develop a Friendship Essay Outline

An outline is a useful tool for organizing ideas in an essay and it ensures that your essay has a structure. Before outlining you need to have a clear vision of what your essay will focus on. Then analyze every piece of information that you have and categorize it into headings. An outline of an essay about friendships will comprise a list which consists of each paragraph’s topic sentence . By going through the outline, you are able to examine what purpose each paragraph serves. If you need assistance on how to create an outline for a college essay about friendship use the outline example shown below.

Friendship essay outline example

4. Write an Essay on Friendship

Writing an essay about friendship is an exciting task. Below is a sample of how you can write your friendship essay. Friendship is the bond between two or more individuals based on mutual trust, support, and understanding. This connection can develop at any stage of life and even last a lifetime. It is a bond that fills our lives with comfort, laughter, and advice during a hard period. Many different factors can contribute to its formation and success. Having similar needs, mutual interests, and social activities can help sustain the relationship. Another crucial aspect is being ready to support each other through happy and difficult times unconditionally. Trust is also an essential component in the longevity of this connection. In conclusion, friendship is an invaluable treasure that brings joy, comfort, and support to our lives. It provides a safe place in a world that can be harsh and unforgiving. It reminds us that we should always stay true to each other.

5. Proofread Your Friendship Essay

When writing a friendship essay, consider the following for an effective introduction.

  • Grab your reader's attention. A good introduction makes them want to continue reading your friendship essay.
  • Provide context. Give an overview of the friendship essay and its purpose. This will make readers interested in your work.
  • Establish your purpose. Clearly state the main idea or thesis.
  • Preview the main points. Briefly summarize key points that will be covered.
  • Be concise. An introduction should be short and on point, generally no more than one or two paragraphs.

Remember, your introduction will set tone for the rest of your piece and should encourage your readers to continue reading.

Read more: Essay About Happiness : Tips & Examples

Friendship Essay Examples

A sample essay about friendship can be critical to students, especially when they are researching and collecting information. Free friendship essays help you get ideas on how to write and structure your essay. Below are essay examples about friendship that you can go through to help with your writing and draw inspiration from. Friendship essay example 1

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Friendship essay example 2

Essay about friendship sample 3

Example of essay on friendship 4

Friendship Essay Writing Tips

Here are some extra tips you need to know that will motivate you to write a friendship short essay.

  • You could start with a quote, an anecdote, or a surprising fact.
  • Use examples from your own life to illustrate your points in your school college essay about friendship, as this will make your essay more relatable and interesting to read.
  • Friendship titles for essays should be clear and straightforward. They should also reflect your main points.
  • Describe the aspect of the bond that, in your opinion, is most crucial. It is possible to personalize something that means an entirely different thing to various individuals.

Bottom Line on Friendship Essay Writing

Your central task is to understand what is a friendship essay even before you start writing. Friendship essays explore the nature of our relationships and their various aspects. They can take various forms, from short reflective essays to longer, more analytical pieces. These papers can discuss qualities that make a good friend, the benefits of your relationship, or challenges of maintaining close relationships. Examples of short essays about friendship could be a personal reflection, exploring the unique bond between the writer and their friend and what they hope to continue gaining from each other when they cross paths in future. If you struggle with other papers, feel free to check out our writing guides. From an essay about bullying to a world peace essay , we’ve got you covered.

FAQ About Friendship Essay

1. may i use friendship quotes for the essay.

Yes, it is always a winning step. You can write an essay on friendship with quotes either as the title of your essay or as an introductory phrase. You can also include it in the body of your work while narrating your story.

2. How to write a hook for an essay of friendship?

An essay should hook your reader's attention and make them want to read your story. When writing essays about friendship, you can describe a unique situation in which your friends helped you. You can also end your introduction with a catchy quote, such as Squad goals! Some other quotes that you can use include:

  • A road to a friend's house is never long.
  • Count your age with friends and years.
  • True friend is seen through the heart, not through the eyes.

3. Explain the importance of friendship essay.

The importance of friendship essay is that it teaches students to express their thoughts and feelings about confidants and benefits they obtain from this connection. It also acts as a reflective tool. Friend essays also help students realize advantages of creating and maintaining good relationships with friends and how these linkages contribute to your overall wellness and welfare.

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Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

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How to write a thematic essay

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.

Emerson writes a poem about old friendships and about friendships lost.

A ruddy drop of manly blood The surging sea outweighs, The world uncertain comes and goes, The lover rooted stays. I fancied he was fled, And, after many a year, Glowed unexhausted kindliness Like daily sunrise there. My careful heart was free again, — O friend, my bosom said, Through thee alone the sky is arched, Through thee the rose is red, All things through thee take nobler form, And look beyond the earth, And is the mill-round of our fate A sun-path in thy worth. Me too thy nobleness has taught To master my despair; The fountains of my hidden life Are through thy friendship fair.

W e have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken.  Maugre all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world, the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether. How many persons we meet in houses, whom we scarcely speak to, whom yet we honor, and who honor us! How many we see in the street, or sit with in church, whom, though silently, we warmly rejoice to be with! Read the language of these wandering eye-beams. The heart knoweth.

The effect of the indulgence of this human affection is a certain cordial exhilaration. In poetry, and in common speech, the emotions of benevolence and complacency which are felt towards others are likened to the material effects of fire; so swift, or much more swift, more active, more cheering, are these fine inward irradiations. From the highest degree of passionate love, to the lowest degree of good-will, they make the sweetness of life.

Our intellectual and active powers increase with our affection. The scholar sits down to write, and all his years of meditation do not furnish him with one good thought or happy expression; but it is necessary to write a letter to a friend, — and, forthwith, troops of gentle thoughts invest themselves, on every hand, with chosen words. See, in any house where virtue and self-respect abide, the palpitation which the approach of a stranger causes. A commended stranger is expected and announced, and an uneasiness betwixt pleasure and pain invades all the hearts of a household. His arrival almost brings fear to the good hearts that would welcome him. The house is dusted, all things fly into their places, the old coat is exchanged for the new, and they must get up a dinner if they can. Of a commended stranger, only the good report is told by others, only the good and new is heard by us. He stands to us for humanity. He is what we wish. Having imagined and invested him, we ask how we should stand related in conversation and action with such a man, and are uneasy with fear. The same idea exalts conversation with him. We talk better than we are wont. We have the nimblest fancy, a richer memory, and our dumb devil has taken leave for the time. For long hours we can continue a series of sincere, graceful, rich communications, drawn from the oldest, secretest experience, so that they who sit by, of our own kinsfolk and acquaintance, shall feel a lively surprise at our unusual powers. But as soon as the stranger begins to intrude his partialities, his definitions, his defects, into the conversation, it is all over. He has heard the first, the last and best he will ever hear from us. He is no stranger now. Vulgarity, ignorance, misapprehension are old acquaintances. Now, when he comes, he may get the order, the dress, and the dinner, — but the throbbing of the heart, and the communications of the soul, no more.

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

What is so pleasant as these jets of affection which make a young world for me again? What so delicious as a just and firm encounter of two, in a thought, in a feeling? How beautiful, on their approach to this beating heart, the steps and forms of the gifted and the true! The moment we indulge our affections, the earth is metamorphosed; there is no winter, and no night; all tragedies, all ennuis, vanish, — all duties even; nothing fills the proceeding eternity but the forms all radiant of beloved persons. Let the soul be assured that somewhere in the universe it should rejoin its friend, and it would be content and cheerful alone for a thousand years.

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new. Shall I not call God the Beautiful, who daily showeth himself so to me in his gifts? I chide society, I embrace solitude, and yet I am not so ungrateful as not to see the wise, the lovely, and the noble-minded, as from time to time they pass my gate. Who hears me, who understands me, becomes mine, — a possession for all time. Nor is nature so poor but she gives me this joy several times, and thus we weave social threads of our own, a new web of relations; and, as many thoughts in succession substantiate themselves, we shall by and by stand in a new world of our own creation, and no longer strangers and pilgrims in a traditionary globe. My friends have come to me unsought. The great God gave them to me. By oldest right, by the divine affinity of virtue with itself, I find them, or rather not I, but the Deity in me and in them derides and cancels the thick walls of individual character, relation, age, sex, circumstance, at which he usually connives, and now makes many one. High thanks I owe you, excellent lovers, who carry out the world for me to new and noble depths, and enlarge the meaning of all my thoughts. These are new poetry of the first Bard, — poetry without stop, — hymn, ode, and epic, poetry still flowing, Apollo and the Muses chanting still. Will these, too, separate themselves from me again, or some of them? I know not, but I fear it not; for my relation to them is so pure, that we hold by simple affinity, and the Genius of my life being thus social, the same affinity will exert its energy on whomsoever is as noble as these men and women, wherever I may be.

I confess to an extreme tenderness of nature on this point. It is almost dangerous to me to "crush the sweet poison of misused wine" of the affections. A new person is to me a great event, and hinders me from sleep. I have often had fine fancies about persons which have given me delicious hours; but the joy ends in the day; it yields no fruit. Thought is not born of it; my action is very little modified. I must feel pride in my friend's accomplishments as if they were mine, — and a property in his virtues. I feel as warmly when he is praised, as the lover when he hears applause of his engaged maiden. We over-estimate the conscience of our friend. His goodness seems better than our goodness, his nature finer, his temptations less. Every thing that is his, — his name, his form, his dress, books, and instruments, — fancy enhances. Our own thought sounds new and larger from his mouth.

Yet the systole and diastole of the heart are not without their analogy in the ebb and flow of love. Friendship, like the immortality of the soul, is too good to be believed. The lover, beholding his maiden, half knows that she is not verily that which he worships; and in the golden hour of friendship, we are surprised with shades of suspicion and unbelief. We doubt that we bestow on our hero the virtues in which he shines, and afterwards worship the form to which we have ascribed this divine inhabitation. In strictness, the soul does not respect men as it respects itself. In strict science all persons underlie the same condition of an infinite remoteness. Shall we fear to cool our love by mining for the metaphysical foundation of this Elysian temple? Shall I not be as real as the things I see? If I am, I shall not fear to know them for what they are. Their essence is not less beautiful than their appearance, though it needs finer organs for its apprehension. The root of the plant is not unsightly to science, though for chaplets and festoons we cut the stem short. And I must hazard the production of the bald fact amidst these pleasing reveries, though it should prove an Egyptian skull at our banquet. A man who stands united with his thought conceives magnificently of himself. He is conscious of a universal success, even though bought by uniform particular failures. No advantages, no powers, no gold or force, can be any match for him. I cannot choose but rely on my own poverty more than on your wealth. I cannot make your consciousness tantamount to mine. Only the star dazzles; the planet has a faint, moon-like ray. I hear what you say of the admirable parts and tried temper of the party you praise, but I see well that for all his purple cloaks I shall not like him, unless he is at last a poor Greek like me. I cannot deny it, O friend, that the vast shadow of the Phenomenal includes thee also in its pied and painted immensity, — thee, also, compared with whom all else is shadow. Thou art not Being, as Truth is, as Justice is, — thou art not my soul, but a picture and effigy of that. Thou hast come to me lately, and already thou art seizing thy hat and cloak. Is it not that the soul puts forth friends as the tree puts forth leaves, and presently, by the germination of new buds, extrudes the old leaf? The law of nature is alternation for evermore. Each electrical state superinduces the opposite. The soul environs itself with friends, that it may enter into a grander self-acquaintance or solitude; and it goes alone for a season, that it may exalt its conversation or society. This method betrays itself along the whole history of our personal relations. The instinct of affection revives the hope of union with our mates, and the returning sense of insulation recalls us from the chase. Thus every man passes his life in the search after friendship, and if he should record his true sentiment, he might write a letter like this to each new candidate for his love.

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

DEAR FRIEND: —

If I was sure of thee, sure of thy capacity, sure to match my mood with thine, I should never think again of trifles in relation to thy comings and goings. I am not very wise; my moods are quite attainable; and I respect thy genius; it is to me as yet unfathomed; yet dare I not presume in thee a perfect intelligence of me, and so thou art to me a delicious torment. Thine ever, or never.

Yet these uneasy pleasures and fine pains are for curiosity, and not for life. They are not to be indulged. This is to weave cobweb, and not cloth. Our friendships hurry to short and poor conclusions, because we have made them a texture of wine and dreams, instead of the tough fibre of the human heart. The laws of friendship are austere and eternal, of one web with the laws of nature and of morals. But we have aimed at a swift and petty benefit, to suck a sudden sweetness. We snatch at the slowest fruit in the whole garden of God, which many summers and many winters must ripen. We seek our friend not sacredly, but with an adulterate passion which would appropriate him to ourselves. In vain. We are armed all over with subtle antagonisms, which, as soon as we meet, begin to play, and translate all poetry into stale prose. Almost all people descend to meet. All association must be a compromise, and, what is worst, the very flower and aroma of the flower of each of the beautiful natures disappears as they approach each other. What a perpetual disappointment is actual society, even of the virtuous and gifted! After interviews have been compassed with long foresight, we must be tormented presently by baffled blows, by sudden, unseasonable apathies, by epilepsies of wit and of animal spirits, in the heyday of friendship and thought. Our faculties do not play us true, and both parties are relieved by solitude.

I ought to be equal to every relation. It makes no difference how many friends I have, and what content I can find in conversing with each, if there be one to whom I am not equal. If I have shrunk unequal from one contest, the joy I find in all the rest becomes mean and cowardly. I should hate myself, if then I made my other friends my asylum.

The valiant warrior famoused for fight, After a hundred victories, once foiled, Is from the book of honor razed quite, And all the rest forgot for which he toiled."

Our impatience is thus sharply rebuked. Bashfulness and apathy are a tough husk, in which a delicate organization is protected from premature ripening. It would be lost if it knew itself before any of the best souls were yet ripe enough to know and own it. Respect the naturlangsamkeit which hardens the ruby in a million years, and works in duration, in which Alps and Andes come and go as rainbows. The good spirit of our life has no heaven which is the price of rashness. Love, which is the essence of God, is not for levity, but for the total worth of man. Let us not have this childish luxury in our regards, but the austerest worth; let us approach our friend with an audacious trust in the truth of his heart, in the breadth, impossible to be overturned, of his foundations.

The attractions of this subject are not to be resisted, and I leave, for the time, all account of subordinate social benefit, to speak of that select and sacred relation which is a kind of absolute, and which even leaves the language of love suspicious and common, so much is this purer, and nothing is so much divine.

I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frostwork, but the solidest thing we know. For now, after so many ages of experience, what do we know of nature, or of ourselves? Not one step has man taken toward the solution of the problem of his destiny. In one condemnation of folly stand the whole universe of men. But the sweet sincerity of joy and peace, which I draw from this alliance with my brother's soul, is the nut itself, whereof all nature and all thought is but the husk and shell. Happy is the house that shelters a friend! It might well be built, like a festal bower or arch, to entertain him a single day. Happier, if he know the solemnity of that relation, and honor its law! He who offers himself a candidate for that covenant comes up, like an Olympian, to the great games, where the first-born of the world are the competitors. He proposes himself for contests where Time, Want, Danger, are in the lists, and he alone is victor who has truth enough in his constitution to preserve the delicacy of his beauty from the wear and tear of all these. The gifts of fortune may be present or absent, but all the speed in that contest depends on intrinsic nobleness, and the contempt of trifles. There are two elements that go to the composition of friendship, each so sovereign that I can detect no superiority in either, no reason why either should be first named. One is Truth. A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another. Sincerity is the luxury allowed, like diadems and authority, only to the highest rank, that being permitted to speak truth, as having none above it to court or conform unto. Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. We parry and fend the approach of our fellow-man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs. We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds. I knew a man, who, under a certain religious frenzy, cast off this drapery, and, omitting all compliment and commonplace, spoke to the conscience of every person he encountered, and that with great insight and beauty. At first he was resisted, and all men agreed he was mad. But persisting, as indeed he could not help doing, for some time in this course, he attained to the advantage of bringing every man of his acquaintance into true relations with him. No man would think of speaking falsely with him, or of putting him off with any chat of markets or reading-rooms. But every man was constrained by so much sincerity to the like plaindealing, and what love of nature, what poetry, what symbol of truth he had, he did certainly show him. But to most of us society shows not its face and eye, but its side and its back. To stand in true relations with men in a false age is worth a fit of insanity, is it not? We can seldom go erect. Almost every man we meet requires some civility, — requires to be humored; he has some fame, some talent, some whim of religion or philanthropy in his head that is not to be questioned, and which spoils all conversation with him. But a friend is a sane man who exercises not my ingenuity, but me. My friend gives me entertainment without requiring any stipulation on my part. A friend, therefore, is a sort of paradox in nature. I who alone am, I who see nothing in nature whose existence I can affirm with equal evidence to my own, behold now the semblance of my being, in all its height, variety, and curiosity, reiterated in a foreign form; so that a friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

The other element of friendship is tenderness. We are holden to men by every sort of tie, by blood, by pride, by fear, by hope, by lucre, by lust, by hate, by admiration, by every circumstance and badge and trifle, but we can scarce believe that so much character can subsist in another as to draw us by love. Can another be so blessed, and we so pure, that we can offer him tenderness? When a man becomes dear to me, I have touched the goal of fortune. I find very little written directly to the heart of this matter in books. And yet I have one text which I cannot choose but remember. My author says, — "I offer myself faintly and bluntly to those whose I effectually am, and tender myself least to him to whom I am the most devoted." I wish that friendship should have feet, as well as eyes and eloquence. It must plant itself on the ground, before it vaults over the moon. I wish it to be a little of a citizen, before it is quite a cherub. We chide the citizen because he makes love a commodity. It is an exchange of gifts, of useful loans; it is good neighbourhood; it watches with the sick; it holds the pall at the funeral; and quite loses sight of the delicacies and nobility of the relation. But though we cannot find the god under this disguise of a sutler, yet, on the other hand, we cannot forgive the poet if he spins his thread too fine , and does not substantiate his romance by the municipal virtues of justice, punctuality, fidelity, and pity. I hate the prostitution of the name of friendship to signify modish and worldly alliances. I much prefer the company of ploughboys and tin-peddlers, to the silken and perfumed amity which celebrates its days of encounter by a frivolous display, by rides in a curricle, and dinners at the best taverns. The end of friendship is a commerce the most strict and homely that can be joined; more strict than any of which we have experience. It is for aid and comfort through all the relations and passages of life and death. It is fit for serene days, and graceful gifts, and country rambles, but also for rough roads and hard fare, shipwreck, poverty, and persecution. It keeps company with the sallies of the wit and the trances of religion. We are to dignify to each other the daily needs and offices of man's life, and embellish it by courage, wisdom, and unity. It should never fall into something usual and settled, but should be alert and inventive, and add rhyme and reason to what was drudgery.

Life is a journey, not a destination.

Friendship may be said to require natures so rare and costly, each so well tempered and so happily adapted, and withal so circumstanced, (for even in that particular, a poet says, love demands that the parties be altogether paired,) that its satisfaction can very seldom be assured. It cannot subsist in its perfection, say some of those who are learned in this warm lore of the heart, betwixt more than two. I am not quite so strict in my terms, perhaps because I have never known so high a fellowship as others. I please my imagination more with a circle of godlike men and women variously related to each other, and between whom subsists a lofty intelligence. But I find this law of one to one peremptory for conversation, which is the practice and consummation of friendship. Do not mix waters too much. The best mix as ill as good and bad. You shall have very useful and cheering discourse at several times with two several men, but let all three of you come together, and you shall not have one new and hearty word. Two may talk and one may hear, but three cannot take part in a conversation of the most sincere and searching sort. In good company there is never such discourse between two, across the table, as takes place when you leave them alone. In good company, the individuals merge their egotism into a social soul exactly co-extensive with the several consciousnesses there present. No partialities of friend to friend, no fondnesses of brother to sister, of wife to husband, are there pertinent, but quite otherwise. Only he may then speak who can sail on the common thought of the party, and not poorly limited to his own. Now this convention, which good sense demands, destroys the high freedom of great conversation, which requires an absolute running of two souls into one.

No two men but, being left alone with each other, enter into simpler relations. Yet it is affinity that determines which two shall converse. Unrelated men give little joy to each other; will never suspect the latent powers of each. We talk sometimes of a great talent for conversation, as if it were a permanent property in some individuals. Conversation is an evanescent relation, — no more. A man is reputed to have thought and eloquence; he cannot, for all that, say a word to his cousin or his uncle. They accuse his silence with as much reason as they would blame the insignificance of a dial in the shade. In the sun it will mark the hour. Among those who enjoy his thought, he will regain his tongue.

Friendship requires that rare mean betwixt likeness and unlikeness, that piques each with the presence of power and of consent in the other party. Let me be alone to the end of the world, rather than that my friend should overstep, by a word or a look, his real sympathy. I am equally balked by antagonism and by compliance. Let him not cease an instant to be himself. The only joy I have in his being mine, is that the not mine is mine . I hate, where I looked for a manly furtherance, or at least a manly resistance, to find a mush of concession. Better be a nettle in the side of your friend than his echo. The condition which high friendship demands is ability to do without it. That high office requires great and sublime parts. There must be very two, before there can be very one. Let it be an alliance of two large, formidable natures, mutually beheld, mutually feared, before yet they recognize the deep identity which beneath these disparities unites them.

He only is fit for this society who is magnanimous; who is sure that greatness and goodness are always economy; who is not swift to intermeddle with his fortunes. Let him not intermeddle with this. Leave to the diamond its ages to grow, nor expect to accelerate the births of the eternal. Friendship demands a religious treatment. We talk of choosing our friends, but friends are self-elected. Reverence is a great part of it. Treat your friend as a spectacle. Of course he has merits that are not yours, and that you cannot honor, if you must needs hold him close to your person. Stand aside; give those merits room; let them mount and expand. Are you the friend of your friend's buttons, or of his thought? To a great heart he will still be a stranger in a thousand particulars, that he may come near in the holiest ground. Leave it to girls and boys to regard a friend as property, and to suck a short and all-confounding pleasure, instead of the noblest benefit.

Let us buy our entrance to this guild by a long probation. Why should we desecrate noble and beautiful souls by intruding on them? Why insist on rash personal relations with your friend? Why go to his house, or know his mother and brother and sisters? Why be visited by him at your own? Are these things material to our covenant? Leave this touching and clawing. Let him be to me a spirit. A message, a thought, a sincerity, a glance from him, I want, but not news, nor pottage. I can get politics, and chat, and neighbourly conveniences from cheaper companions. Should not the society of my friend be to me poetic, pure, universal, and great as nature itself? Ought I to feel that our tie is profane in comparison with yonder bar of cloud that sleeps on the horizon, or that clump of waving grass that divides the brook? Let us not vilify, but raise it to that standard. That great, defying eye, that scornful beauty of his mien and action, do not pique yourself on reducing, but rather fortify and enhance. Worship his superiorities; wish him not less by a thought, but hoard and tell them all. Guard him as thy counterpart. Let him be to thee for ever a sort of beautiful enemy, untamable, devoutly revered, and not a trivial conveniency to be soon outgrown and cast aside. The hues of the opal, the light of the diamond, are not to be seen, if the eye is too near. To my friend I write a letter, and from him I receive a letter. That seems to you a little. It suffices me. It is a spiritual gift worthy of him to give, and of me to receive. It profanes nobody. In these warm lines the heart will trust itself, as it will not to the tongue, and pour out the prophecy of a godlier existence than all the annals of heroism have yet made good.

Respect so far the holy laws of this fellowship as not to prejudice its perfect flower by your impatience for its opening. We must be our own before we can be another's. There is at least this satisfaction in crime, according to the Latin proverb; — you can speak to your accomplice on even terms. Crimen quos inquinat, aequat . To those whom we admire and love, at first we cannot. Yet the least defect of self-possession vitiates, in my judgment, the entire relation. There can never be deep peace between two spirits, never mutual respect, until, in their dialogue, each stands for the whole world.

What is so great as friendship, let us carry with what grandeur of spirit we can. Let us be silent, — so we may hear the whisper of the gods. Let us not interfere. Who set you to cast about what you should say to the select souls, or how to say any thing to such? No matter how ingenious, no matter how graceful and bland. There are innumerable degrees of folly and wisdom, and for you to say aught is to be frivolous. Wait, and thy heart shall speak. Wait until the necessary and everlasting overpowers you, until day and night avail themselves of your lips. The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one. You shall not come nearer a man by getting into his house. If unlike, his soul only flees the faster from you, and you shall never catch a true glance of his eye. We see the noble afar off, and they repel us; why should we intrude? Late, — very late, — we perceive that no arrangements, no introductions, no consuetudes or habits of society, would be of any avail to establish us in such relations with them as we desire, — but solely the uprise of nature in us to the same degree it is in them; then shall we meet as water with water; and if we should not meet them then, we shall not want them, for we are already they. In the last analysis, love is only the reflection of a man's own worthiness from other men. Men have sometimes exchanged names with their friends, as if they would signify that in their friend each loved his own soul.

Do not follow where the path may lead - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The higher the style we demand of friendship, of course the less easy to establish it with flesh and blood. We walk alone in the world. Friends, such as we desire, are dreams and fables. But a sublime hope cheers ever the faithful heart, that elsewhere, in other regions of the universal power, souls are now acting, enduring, and daring, which can love us, and which we can love. We may congratulate ourselves that the period of nonage, of follies, of blunders, and of shame, is passed in solitude, and when we are finished men, we shall grasp heroic hands in heroic hands. Only be admonished by what you already see, not to strike leagues of friendship with cheap persons, where no friendship can be. Our impatience betrays us into rash and foolish alliances which no God attends. By persisting in your path, though you forfeit the little you gain the great. You demonstrate yourself, so as to put yourself out of the reach of false relations, and you draw to you the first-born of the world, — those rare pilgrims whereof only one or two wander in nature at once, and before whom the vulgar great show as spectres and shadows merely.

It is foolish to be afraid of making our ties too spiritual, as if so we could lose any genuine love. Whatever correction of our popular views we make from insight, nature will be sure to bear us out in, and though it seem to rob us of some joy, will repay us with a greater. Let us feel, if we will, the absolute insulation of man. We are sure that we have all in us. We go to Europe, or we pursue persons, or we read books, in the instinctive faith that these will call it out and reveal us to ourselves. Beggars all. The persons are such as we; the Europe an old faded garment of dead persons; the books their ghosts. Let us drop this idolatry. Let us give over this mendicancy. Let us even bid our dearest friends farewell, and defy them, saying, 'Who are you? Unhand me: I will be dependent no more.' Ah! seest thou not, O brother, that thus we part only to meet again on a higher platform, and only be more each other's, because we are more our own? A friend is Janus-faced: he looks to the past and the future. He is the child of all my foregoing hours, the prophet of those to come, and the harbinger of a greater friend.

I do then with my friends as I do with my books. I would have them where I can find them, but I seldom use them. We must have society on our own terms, and admit or exclude it on the slightest cause. I cannot afford to speak much with my friend. If he is great, he makes me so great that I cannot descend to converse. In the great days, presentiments hover before me in the firmament. I ought then to dedicate myself to them. I go in that I may seize them, I go out that I may seize them. I fear only that I may lose them receding into the sky in which now they are only a patch of brighter light. Then, though I prize my friends, I cannot afford to talk with them and study their visions, lest I lose my own. It would indeed give me a certain household joy to quit this lofty seeking, this spiritual astronomy, or search of stars, and come down to warm sympathies with you; but then I know well I shall mourn always the vanishing of my mighty gods. It is true, next week I shall have languid moods, when I can well afford to occupy myself with foreign objects; then I shall regret the lost literature of your mind, and wish you were by my side again. But if you come, perhaps you will fill my mind only with new visions, not with yourself but with your lustres, and I shall not be able any more than now to converse with you. So I will owe to my friends this evanescent intercourse. I will receive from them, not what they have, but what they are. They shall give me that which properly they cannot give, but which emanates from them. But they shall not hold me by any relations less subtile and pure. We will meet as though we met not, and part as though we parted not.

It has seemed to me lately more possible than I knew, to carry a friendship greatly, on one side, without due correspondence on the other. Why should I cumber myself with regrets that the receiver is not capacious? It never troubles the sun that some of his rays fall wide and vain into ungrateful space, and only a small part on the reflecting planet. Let your greatness educate the crude and cold companion. If he is unequal, he will presently pass away; but thou art enlarged by thy own shining, and, no longer a mate for frogs and worms, dost soar and burn with the gods of the empyrean. It is thought a disgrace to love unrequited. But the great will see that true love cannot be unrequited. True love transcends the unworthy object, and dwells and broods on the eternal, and when the poor interposed mask crumbles, it is not sad, but feels rid of so much earth, and feels its independency the surer. Yet these things may hardly be said without a sort of treachery to the relation. The essence of friendship is entireness, a total magnanimity and trust. It must not surmise or provide for infirmity. It treats its object as a god, that it may deify both.

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15 Prompts for Talking and Writing About Friendship

Questions to help students reflect on the meaning of friendship in their lives

abstract essay on friendship

By Natalie Proulx

Who are your closest friends? How much do you share with them? Do you actually like your friends? What have you learned from them?

Below, we’ve rounded up 15 questions we’ve asked students over the years all about friendship. You can use them as prompts for writing or discussion, inside the classroom or out. We hope they’ll inspire you to reflect on your friendships, consider how you can strengthen the ones you have, and motivate you to reach out and make new ones.

Each prompt includes an excerpt from a related New York Times article, essay or photo; a link to the related piece; and several questions to help you think deeply about it. Many of these questions are still open for comment from students 13 or older.

You can find even more ideas for teaching and learning about friendship in our related lesson plan: How Students Can Cultivate Meaningful Friendships Using The New York Times .

1. Who Are Your Friends?

Do you have a “best friend,” a few close friends or a large group of friends? What interests, experiences, passions and circumstances forge those relationships? What are some of your favorite memories or admirable characteristics you associate with your friends?

Use this Picture Prompt to talk or write about your most important friendships.

2. How Alike Are You and Your Friends?

Did you know there is science behind how we choose our friends? Research has shown that we tend to befriend people who are much like us in a wide array of characteristics, including age, race, religion, even our handgrip strength.

In this prompt , you’ll read more about the things that bond us, and then share what you and your friends have in common.

3. Do You Have Any Unlikely Friendships?

Though we tend to connect with people who are like us, sometimes friendship happens with someone we’d least expect. That was the case for Spencer Sleyon, a 22-year-old rapper and producer from East Harlem, and Rosalind Guttman, an 81-year-old woman living in a retirement community in Florida, who met playing the Words With Friends game.

Do you have any surprising friendships like this one?

4. How Much Do You Share With Your Friends?

Do you often express your innermost thoughts, feelings and struggles to those closest to you? Or do you tend to keep those things to yourself? Being vulnerable can be scary, but research shows it’s important for building connections with others.

Use this prompt to reflect on what it feels like to open up to your friends, and how you might try to do more of it.

5. Do You Have Satisfying Friendships?

Are internet friendships as fulfilling as in-person ones? In a guest essay, a writer argues that “The kind of presence required for deep friendship does not seem cultivated in many online interactions. Presence in friendship requires ‘being with’ and ‘doing for.’”

Do you agree? Can online “friends” be true friends? Share your opinion.

6. Do You Have Any Close Friends?

Do you prefer to have many casual friends or just a few close ones? What makes a person a “best” friend? Do you wish you had more close friendships? This prompt explores these questions and more, as well as shares expert advice for developing deeper friendships.

7. How Do You React When Your Friendships Change?

Have you ever become less close to a friend over time? Have you ever felt jealousy when your friend joined another friend group? Have you ever had a friendship just fizzle out? These kinds of changes happen all the time, but they can be difficult to navigate.

Tell us what you do when you feel a friendship start to shift.

8. Do Social Media and Smartphones Make Your Friendships Stronger?

abstract essay on friendship

Does being able to stay constantly in touch with your friends via social media, texting and location sharing strengthen your friendships and make them easier to maintain? Or does it do the opposite? Weigh in with your experiences on this prompt .

9. Do You Like Your Friends?

It may sound like a strange question, but a 2016 study found that only about half of perceived friendships are mutual. That means you might not even like someone who thinks of you as a best friend. And vice versa.

Is this is true for any of your relationships?

10. How Often Do You Text Your Friends Just to Say ‘Hi’?

When was the last time you texted, called, emailed or messaged a friend just to say “hello”? Research suggests casual check-ins might mean more than we realize. Do you underestimate how much your friends would like hearing from you?

Read what experts have to say and then share your thoughts.

11. Is It Harder for Men and Boys to Make and Keep Friends?

American men appear to be stuck in a “friendship recession,” according to a recent survey. Less than half of men said they were truly satisfied with the number of friendships they had. The same study also found that men are less likely than women to seek emotional support from or share personal feelings with their friends.

Does this reflect your experience? Weigh in.

12. Do You Have Any Intergenerational Friendships?

“When applying to my job, I had no idea of the friendships I would be making with 70+ year old women. They teach me new things every day while I hear their life stories and things they have done,” Laura from Ellisville wrote in response to this prompt.

Do you have any friends who are significantly younger or older than you? What do you think we can gain from these kinds of intergenerational friendships? Tell us here.

13. Have You Ever Been Left Out?

Imagine it’s a Saturday. All your friends told you they were busy, so you’re sitting at home, alone, mindlessly scrolling through Instagram. But then you see a post that stops you in your tracks. It’s a picture of all of your friends hanging out together — without you. This is what happened to Hallie Reed in her first semester at college.

Has something like this ever happened to you? Use this prompt to talk or write about how it felt.

14. What Have Your Friends Taught You About Life?

“My friends taught me different perspectives on life.” “My friends have taught me to not care what other people think.” “My friends have taught me to be myself.”

These are just a few of the responses teenagers had to this prompt. What have your friends taught you?

15. Have You Ever Had a Significant Friendship End?

Few relationships are meant to last forever. In a guest essay, Lauren Mechling writes that “even bonds founded on that rare, deeply felt psychic connection between two people” are “bound to fray.”

Have you experienced this with someone with whom you were once very close? What happened? Share your story.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

Natalie Proulx joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2017 after working as an English language arts teacher and curriculum writer. More about Natalie Proulx

Essay on Friendship for Students and Children

500+ words essay on friendship.

Friendship is one of the greatest bonds anyone can ever wish for. Lucky are those who have friends they can trust. Friendship is a devoted relationship between two individuals. They both feel immense care and love for each other. Usually, a friendship is shared by two people who have similar interests and feelings.

Essay on Friendship

You meet many along the way of life but only some stay with you forever. Those are your real friends who stay by your side through thick and thin. Friendship is the most beautiful gift you can present to anyone. It is one which stays with a person forever.

True Friendship

A person is acquainted with many persons in their life. However, the closest ones become our friends. You may have a large friend circle in school or college , but you know you can only count on one or two people with whom you share true friendship.

There are essentially two types of friends, one is good friends the other are true friends or best friends. They’re the ones with whom we have a special bond of love and affection. In other words, having a true friend makes our lives easier and full of happiness.

abstract essay on friendship

Most importantly, true friendship stands for a relationship free of any judgments. In a true friendship, a person can be themselves completely without the fear of being judged. It makes you feel loved and accepted. This kind of freedom is what every human strives to have in their lives.

In short, true friendship is what gives us reason to stay strong in life. Having a loving family and all is okay but you also need true friendship to be completely happy. Some people don’t even have families but they have friends who’re like their family only. Thus, we see having true friends means a lot to everyone.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Importance of Friendship

Friendship is important in life because it teaches us a great deal about life. We learn so many lessons from friendship which we won’t find anywhere else. You learn to love someone other than your family. You know how to be yourself in front of friends.

Friendship never leaves us in bad times. You learn how to understand people and trust others. Your real friends will always motivate you and cheer for you. They will take you on the right path and save you from any evil.

Similarly, friendship also teaches you a lot about loyalty. It helps us to become loyal and get loyalty in return. There is no greater feeling in the world than having a friend who is loyal to you.

Moreover, friendship makes us stronger. It tests us and helps us grow. For instance, we see how we fight with our friends yet come back together after setting aside our differences. This is what makes us strong and teaches us patience.

Therefore, there is no doubt that best friends help us in our difficulties and bad times of life. They always try to save us in our dangers as well as offer timely advice. True friends are like the best assets of our life because they share our sorrow, sooth our pain and make us feel happy.

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Essay on Friendship

List of essays on friendship, essay on friendship – short essay for kids (essay 1 – 150 words), essay on friendship – 10 lines on friendship written in english (essay 2 – 250 words), essay on friendship – for school students (class 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) (essay 3 – 300 words), essay on friendship – for students (essay 4 – 400 words), essay on friendship (essay 5 – 500 words), essay on friendship – introduction, benefits and qualities (essay 6 – 600 words), essay on friendship – essay on true friendship (essay 7 – 750 words), essay on friendship – importance, types, examples and conclusion (essay 8 – 1000 words).

Friendship is a divine relationship, which is defined by neither blood nor any other similarity. Who is in this world does not have a friend?

A friend, with whom you just love to spend your time, can share your joys and sorrows. Most importantly you need not fake yourself and just be what you are. That is what friendship is all about. It is one of the most beautiful of the relations in the world. Students of today need to understand the values of friendship and therefore we have composed different long essays for students as well as short essays.

Audience: The below given essays are exclusively written for school students (Class 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 Standard).

Introduction:

Friendship is considered as one of the treasures that anyone can possess. God has given us the liberty to choose friends because they are for our lifetime. It is quite normal for our parents and siblings to love us because they are our own blood but a friend is someone who is initially a stranger and then takes his/her place above all the other relations. Friendship is nothing but pure love without any expectations.

Role of a Friend:

True friends share and support each other even during the toughest of times. A true friend is one who feels happy for our success, who feel sad for our failures, fight with us for silly things and hugs us the next second, gets angry on us when we do any mistakes. Friendship is all about having true friends who can understand us without the need for us to speak.

Conclusion:

Friendship is very essential for a happy life. Even a two-minute chat with a friend will make us forget our worries. That is the strength of friendship.

Friendship is a divine relationship, which is defined by neither blood nor any other similarity. Friends are those you can choose for yourself in spite of the difference you both have from each other. A good friend in need will do wonders in your life, whenever you are in need of self-realization, upbringing your confidence and more.

Friendship serves you best not only in your happiest moments but also when you feel low in emotions. A life without a good friend is not at all complete and an emptiness will be felt all the time you think of sharing your emotion that can’t be told to anyone else.

Honesty and Patience in Friendship:

To maintain and keep going with a good deep friendship, honesty is the most important factor. You should choose a person who can be cent percent honest with you in all perspective like emotions, decision making, etc. Trustworthy friendship will help you to take better decisions and choose a better path for your future well-being.

Tolerance and patience with each other are another important characteristics of long-lasting friendship. Accepting the differences, friends should be able to be with each other in all situations. As a friend, the person should lead the other to success by being a motivation and criticize the person if they choose the wrong path.

Friendship will give you sweet and happy memories that can be cherished for a lifetime and if you succeed in maintaining that precious relation, then you are the luckiest person in this world. Love and care for each other will cherish the relationship and helps the person to appreciate each thing done without any fail.

Of all the different relations which we indulge in, friendship is considered to be the purest of them all. Friendship is the true confluence of souls with like minded attitude that aids in seamless conversation and the best of times. It is believed that a person who doesn’t have any friend lives one of the toughest lives.

The Desire to Belong:

Each one of us have been so programmed that we need a companion even if it’s not romantic, someone just to tag along. There are several definitions of friendship and it is upon you as to how you believe your relation to be. Friendship can happen when you are simply sharing a bowl of food with a person day after day. It can be expressed in the way you silently care for someone even when they may not be aware of your existence.

The Little Moments that Matter:

It is giving up the little things you love dearly for the sake of someone you cherish a great deal. Friendship often refers to the little moments of senseless laugh you two share when the rest of the world starts to look bleak. It is to know what your friend needs and being there for them even when the rest of the world has turned their back towards them.

Friendship is the kind of relation which sometimes even exceeds the realms of love because it is all about giving without even once bothering to sense what you shall get back. Every time spent is special because when you are with friends, you don’t feel the blues!

The Bottom-Line:

Of course the definition of friendship is going to vary a great deal from one person to another. But, remember one thing, when you are friends with someone, be prepared to put your heart on the line for their happiness because friendship often manifests into love, even if it is not romantic, it always is true!

Friendship is the most valuable as well as precious gifts of life. Friendship is one of the most valued relationship. People who have good friends enjoy the most in their live. True friendship is based on loyalty & support. A good friend is a person who will stand with you when times are tough. A friend is someone special on whom you can rely on to celebrate a special moment. Friendship is like a life asset and it can lead us to success. It all depends on our choice how we choose our friends.

The quality of friendship is essential for happiness. The benefits of healthy friendship remains long-life. In addition, having a strong friend circle also improves our self-confidence. Due to the strong relationship, we get much emotional support during our bad times. True friendship is a feeling of love & care.

Real friendship cannot be built within limited boundaries like caste or creed. It gives us a feeling that someone really needs us & we are not alone. This is true that man cannot live alone. True friends are needed in every stage of life to survive. A true friend can be an old person or a child. But it is generally believed that we make friend with people who are of the same age as ours. Same age group can give you the freedom to share anything.

The selection of a true friend is also a challenging task. We have to carefully make our friend selection. Friends might come & go. They will make you laugh & cry. Wrong selection can create various problems for you. In the modern world, many youngsters become a social nuisance. The reason behind it is wrong & bad friendships.

But if we successfully choose the right person as a friend then our life becomes easier. It doesn’t matter who you are, what type of clothes you wear. The most important thing is trust because the relation of friendship stands on the pillars of trust.

Friendship is a relation which can make or break us in every stage of life. But in other words, friendship is an asset which is really precious. Obviously, it is also not so easy to maintain friendships. It demands your time as well as efforts. Last but not the least, it is hard to find true friendship but once you succeed in this task you will have a wonderful time. In exchange for that a friend will only need your valuable time and trust.

The idea of friendship is either heartwarming or gives cold feet depending on individuals and the types of friendships. In the current world, friendships have had different definitions based on the morality and civilization of the society. Ideally, friendship is defined as the state of mutual trust between individuals or parties. Trust is an important component of friendship because it determines the reliability and longevity of the friendship. Trust is built through honest communications between the individuals and interested parties.

Once trust has been established, mutual understanding and support being to form the resulting in a friendship. This friendship can be broken through lack of trust. Trust can be breached through deceit and/ or some people, it differs with the frequencies. There are people who will break friendships after only one episode of dishonesty whereas some people give second chances and even more chances. Friendship types determine the longevity and the causes of breakups. The importance of friendship in the lives of individuals is the reason why friendships are formed in the first place.

Types of Friendships:

According to Aristotle’s Nichomachean ethics, there are three types of friendships. The friendships are based on three factors i.e. utility, pleasure and goodness. The first type of friendship is based on utility and has been described as a friendship whereby both parties gain from each other.

This type of friendship is dependent on the benefits and that is what keeps the friendship going. This type of friendships do not last long because it dissolves as soon as the benefits are outsourced or when other sources are found outside the friendship. The friendship was invented for trade purposes because when two people with opposite things that depend on each other re put together, trade is maximized.

The second type of friendship is based on pleasure. This is described as friendship in which two individuals are drawn to each other based on desires of pleasure and is characterized by passionate feelings and feelings of belonging. This type of friendship can ether last long or is short-lived depending on the presence of the attraction between the two parties.

The third type of friendship is based on goodness. In this friendship, the goodness of people draw them to each other and they usually have the same virtues. The friendship involves loving each other and expecting goodness. It takes long to develop this kind of friendship but it usually lasts longest and is actually the best kind of friendship to be in. the importance of such a friendship is the social support and love.

In conclusion, friendships are important in the lives of individuals. Trust builds and sustains friendships. The different types of friendships are important because they provide benefits and social support. Friendships provide a feeling of belonging and dependence. The durability of friendships is dependent on the basis of its formation and the intention during the formation. Friendships that last long are not based on materialistic gain, instead, they are based on pure emotion.

Friendship is an emotion of care, mutual trust, and fondness among two persons. A friend might be a work-mate, buddy, fellow student or any individual with whom we feel an attachment.

In friendship, people have a mutual exchange of sentiments and faith too. Usually, the friendship nurtures more amongst those people who belong to a similar age as they possess the same passions, interests, sentiments, and opinions. During the school days, kids who belong to the similar age group have a common dream about their future and this makes them all of them get closer in friendship.

In the same way, employees working in business organizations also make friends as they are working together for attaining the organizational objectives. It does not matter that to which age group you belong, friendship can happen at any time of your life.

Benefits of Friendship:

Sometimes friendship is essential in our life. Below are a few benefits of friendship.

1. It’s impossible to live your life alone always but friendship fills that gap quickly with the friend’s company.

2. You can easily pass the rigidities of life with the friendship as in your distress period your friends are always there to help you.

3. Friendship teaches you how to remain happy in life.

4. In case of any confusion or problem, your friendship will always benefit you with good opinions.

True and Dishonest Friendship:

True friendship is very rare in today’s times. There are so many persons who support only those people who are in power so that they can fulfil their selfish motives below the name of friendship. They stay with friends till the time their selfish requirements are achieved. Dishonest friends leave people as soon as their power gets vanished. You can find these types of self-seeking friends all around the world who are quite hurtful than enemies.

Finding a true friendship is very difficult. A true friend helps the other friend who is in need. It does not matter to him that his friend is right or wrong but he will always support his friend at the time of his difficulty.

Carefulness in the Selection of Friendship:

You must be very careful while choosing friends. You should nurture your friendship with that person who does not leave you in your bad times easily. Once you get emotionally attached to the wrong person you cannot finish your friendship so soon. True friendship continues till the time of your last breaths and does not change with the passing time.

Friendship with a bad person also affects your own thoughts and habits. Therefore, a bad person should not be chosen in any type of circumstances. We must do friendship with full attention and carefulness.

Best Qualities of Good Friendship:

Good friendship provides people an enormous love to each other.

The below are the important qualities of good friendship:

1. Good friendship is always faithful, honest, and truthful.

2. People pay attention and take note of others thoughts in good friendship.

3. Persons quickly forget and let off the mistakes of the other friend. In fact, they accept their friend in the way they are actually.

4. You are not judged on the basis of your success, money or power in it.

5. Friends do not feel shy to provide us with valuable opinions for our welfare.

6. People always share their joyful times with their good friends and also stay ready to help their friends in the time of need.

7. True friends also support others in their professional as well as personal life. They encourage their friends in the area of their interest.

Friendship is established over the sacrifice, love, faith, and concern of mutual benefit. True Friendship is a support and a blessing for everybody. All those males and females who have true and genuine friends are very lucky really.

Friendship can simply be defined as a form of mutual relationship or understanding between two people or more who interact and are attached to one another in a manner that is friendly. A friendship is a serious relationship of devotion between two or more people where people involved have a true and sincere feeling of affection, care and love towards each other devoid of any misunderstanding and without demands.

Primarily friendship happens between people that have the same sentiments, feelings and tastes. It is believed that there is no limit or criteria for friendship. All of the different creed, religion, caste, position, sex and age do not matter when it comes to friendship even though friendships can sometimes be damaged by economic disparity and other forms of differentiation. From all of these, it can be concluded that real and true friendship is very possible between people that have a uniform status and are like-minded.

A lot of friends we have in the world today only remain together in times of prosperity and absence of problems but only the faithful, sincere and true friends remain all through the troubles, times of hardships and our bad times. We only discover who our bad and good friends are in the times where we don’t have things going our way.

Most people want to be friends with people with money and we can’t really know if our friends are true when we have money and do not need their help, we only discover our true friends when we need their help in terms of money or any other form of support. A lot of friendships have been jeopardised because of money and the absence or presence of it.

Sometimes, we might face difficulty or crises in our friendships because of self-respect and ego. Friendships can be affected by us or others and we need to try to strike a balance in our friendships. For our friendship to prosper and be true, we need satisfaction, proper understanding and a trustworthy nature. As true friends, we should never exploit our friends but instead do our utmost best to motivate and support them in doing and attaining the very best things in life.

The true meaning of friendship is sometimes lost because of encounters with fake friends who have used and exploited us for their own personal benefits. People like this tend to end the friendship once they get what they want or stab their supposed friends in the back just to get what they think is best for them. Friendship is a very good thing that can help meet our need for companionship and other emotional needs.

In the world we live in today, it is extremely difficult to come across good and loyal friends and this daunting task isn’t made any easier by the lie and deceit of a lot of people in this generation. So, when one finds a very good and loyal important, it is like finding gold and one should do everything to keep friends like that.

The pursuit of true friendship Is not limited to humans, we can as well find good friends in animals; for example, it is a popular belief that dogs make the best friends. It is very important to have good friends as they help us in times and situations where we are down and facing difficulties. Our true friends always do their best to save us when we are in danger and also provide us with timely and good advice. True friends are priceless assets in our lives, they share our pains and sorrow, help provide relief to us in terrible situations and do their best to make us happy.

Friends can both be the good or the bad types. Good friends help push us on the right path in life while on the other hand, bad friends don’t care about us but only care about themselves and can lead us into the wrong path; because of this, we have to be absolutely careful when choosing our friends in this life.

Bad friends can ruin our lives completely so we have to be weary of them and do our best to avoid bag friends totally. We need friends in our life that will be there for us at every point in time and will share all of our feeling with us, both the good and bad. We need friends we can talk to anytime we are feeling lonely, friends that will make us laugh and smile anytime we are feeling sad.

What is friendship? It is the purest form of relationship between two individual with no hidden agenda. As per the dictionary, it is the mutual affection between people. But, is it just a mutual affection? Not always, as in the case of best friends, it is far beyond that. Great friends share each other’s feelings or notions which bring a feeling of prosperity and mental fulfillment.

A friend is a person whom one can know deeply, as and trust for eternity. Rather than having some likeness in the idea of two people associated with the friendship, they have some extraordinary qualities yet they want to be with each other without changing their uniqueness. By and large, friends spur each other without censuring, however at times great friends scrutinize do affect you in a positive manner.

Importance of Friendship:

It is very important to have a friend in life. Each friend is vital and their significance in known to us when certain circumstances emerge which must be supported by our friends. One can never feel lonely in this world on the off chance that he or she is embraced by true friends. Then again, depression wins in the lives of the individuals who don’t have friends regardless of billions of individuals present on the planet. Friends are particularly vital amid times of emergency and hardships. On the off chance that you wind up experiencing a hard time, having a friend to help you through can make the change simpler.

Having friends you can depend on can help your confidence. Then again, an absence of friends can make you feel lonely and without help, which makes you powerless for different issues, for example, sadness and drug abuse. Having no less than one individual you can depend on will formulate your confidence.

Choosing Your Friends Wisely:

Not all friends can instill the positivity in your life. There can be negative effects as well. It is very important to choose your friends with utmost wisdom. Picking the right friend is somewhat troublesome task however it is extremely important. In the event that for instance a couple of our dear friends are engaged with negative behaviour patterns, for example, smoking, drinking and taking drugs, at some point or another we will be attracted to their bad habits as well. This is the reason behind why it is appropriate to settle on an appropriate decision with regards to making friends.

Genuine friendship is truly a gift delighted in by a couple. The individuals who have it ought to express gratitude toward God for having genuine pearls in their lives and the individuals who don’t have a couple of good friends ought to always take a stab at better approaches to anchor great friends. No organization is superior to having a friend close by in the midst of need. You will stay cheerful in your one-room flat on the off chance that you are surrounded by your friends; then again, you can’t discover satisfaction even in your estate in the event that you are far away from others.

Types of Friends:

There is variety everywhere, so why not in friends. We can see different types of friends during our journey of life. For instance, your best friend at school is someone with whom you just get along the most. That friend, especially in the case of girls, may just get annoyed even if you talk to another of your friend more than her. Such is the childish nature of such friendships that at times it is difficult for others to identify whether you are best friends or competitors.

Then there is another category of your siblings. No matter how much you deny, but your siblings or your elder brother and sisters are those friends of yours who stay on with you for your entire life. You have a different set of friendship with them as you find yourself fighting with them most of the times. However, in times of need, you shall see that they are first ones standing behind you, supporting you.

There is another category of friends called professional friends. You come across such friends only when you grow up and choose a profession for yourself. These friends are usually from the same organisation and prove to be helpful during your settling years. Some of them tend to stay on with you even when you change companies.

Friendship Examples from History:

History has always taught us a lot. Examples of true friendship are not far behind. We have some famous example from history which makes us realise the true value of friendship. The topmost of them are the Krishna and Sudama friendship. We all must have read or heard as to how after becoming a king when Krishna met Sudama, his childhood friend, he treated him with honour even though Sudama was a poor person. It teaches us the friendship need not be between equals. It has to be between likeminded people. Next example is of Karna and Duryodhana, again from the Mahabharat era.

Despite knowing the fact that the Pandavas were his brothers, Karna went on to fight alongside Duryodhan as he is his best friend and even laid down his life for him. What more example of true friendship can one find? Again from the same era, Krishna and Arjun are also referred to as the best of the friends. Bhagavad Gita is an example of how a true friend can guide you towards positivity in life and make you follow the path of Dharma. Similarly, there are numerous examples from history which teach us the values of true friendship and the need to nourish such for own good.

Whether you accept or deny it, a friend plays an important role in your life. In fact, it is very important to have a friend. However, at the same time, it is extremely important to choose the friends wisely as they are the ones who can build you or destroy you. Nonetheless, a friend’s company is something which one enjoys all through life and friends should be treated as the best treasure a man can have.

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Essay on Friendship: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words

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essay on friendship

Friendship is a lovely connection that thrives on pure love and care, free from demands. It’s recognized through respect, support, open communication, shared joys, empathy, and unwavering presence. True friends cherish and express this bond in countless meaningful ways. Mentioned below are the essay on friendship that you can write in your school assignments to express gratitude towards them.

This Blog Includes:

Friendship sample essay in 100 words, friendship sample essay in 200 words, friendship sample essay in 300 words.

Everybody needs friends in their life because friends with friendship fill that gap of proper understanding that at some point even our family fails to meet. Whenever challenges come up in life, this friendship becomes a path to overcome those challenges and boosts us toward progress. In the dark and bleak world of reality, friendship fills vibrant and vivid colours of life, enthusiasm, and motivation. Every occasion becomes extra happy when celebrated with that special circle of friends. Every moment spent and lived with your friends, be it sad or happy, dull or motivating, shapes us into who we are. It also helps us see the good in life. 

Also Read- Essay on Waste Management

Friendship is something exceptional. Whenever life gets rough, one thing that we can always rely on is our friendship. We know that we have our friends to support us through the tough times in life. Not only that, friendship is such a deep-rooted emotion that even when we don’t share what we are feeling at the same moment, just by looking at our faces, our friends can figure out that something is bothering us. And they, just by having a thoughtful talk with us, have the strength to make all the bothering go away in a snap. Such is the power of friendship. It’s more than meets the eye. However, there are times when we have those life tests that make us reach our limits and test us through thick and thin. 

Everything in life isn’t always smooth and happy, there are phases when even friends get into a fight with each other, but when they come out of that situation with their friendship still intact, then that bonding reaches new heights of strength.

If you have deep friendships with people, always be grateful to god for that, because not every bond of friendship lasts forever. Those people who have friends who last a lifetime are truly blessed because friendship truly is beautiful.

Also Read: Essay on Badminton

In this vast world, there are innumerable people we meet every day, yet we still meet people who are there with us for a lifetime. The term for those people is “Friends” and the emotion that sustains them is “friendship”. The word friendship may have a particular number of alphabets, but the meaning it conveys cannot be measured in numbers. The word “friendship” is more than meets the eye. The depth it holds in terms of emotions, bonding, trust, understanding, support, communication, and much more is unparalleled. At every phase of our lives, we come across people and don’t even realize the bonds that get forged with time. These bonds are filled with the spirit and essence of trust, honesty, support, etc. hence becoming the pillars of friendship. 

In every person’s life, friendship plays different roles but one thing that every person can agree on without a doubt is that friendship sustains you. Now, there are basically 2 types of friends, first ones are those who are good friends while the other ones are best friends. The best friends are the ones that we share a special bond of affection and love with. They make our lives much richer and easier

In true friendship, there is no place for judgment. True friends can share anything they are feeling without the fear of being judged by the other. To put it simply, we can say that true friendship gives us a reason to become even stronger in life.

Friendship makes us stronger in all aspects. No matter how much we fight our friends, we always come back to them. This is what teaches us the virtue of understanding and being patient. Without an iota of doubt, we can conclude that there is nothing out there that is nearly as beautiful, and as strong as friendship. Lucky are those who have this blessing in their life. Forever cherish it. 

True friendship is one where there is mutual respect, good communication, honesty, and trust. When you know that no matter what, you can rely on your friend and that friend has got your back in every situation. 

The full form of “FRIEND” is” Few Relations In Earth Never Die”.

The word “friendship” is more than meets the eye. The depth it holds in terms of emotions, bonding, trust, understanding, support, communication, and much more is unparalleled. At every phase of our lives, we come across people and don’t even realize the bonds that get forged with time. The power of friendship is such that it can turn a dull day in any person’s life into a really happy one. Every moment spent and lived with your friends, be it sad or happy, dull or motivating, shapes us into who we are. If you have deep friendships with people, always be grateful to god for that, because not every bond of friendship lasts forever. Those people who have friends who last a lifetime are truly blessed because friendship truly is beautiful. 

Hence, we hope that this blog has assisted you in comprehending what an essay on friendship must include. If you are struggling with your career choices and need expert guidance, our Leverage Edu mentors are here to guide you at any point of your academic and professional journey thus ensuring that you take informed steps towards your dream career.

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Interesting Literature

The Best Short Stories about Friendship

Friendship is such a universal and central theme to all of our lives, that picking just a small number of the best short stories about such a broad theme is always going to be a challenge. However, the following stories are by some of the finest masters of the short story form, and all of them touch upon friendship. Indeed, friendship is the central theme in many of them.

Henry James, ‘ The Beast in the Jungle ’.

In this longer tale from 1903 – it’s so long it is sometimes categorised as a ‘novella’ – Henry James uses his interest in delay to explore a friendship between a man and a woman which never turns into a romantic relationship because the man, John Marcher, fears that something terrible is going to befall him. What follows is one of James’s finest stories about death and how irrational fear of death at every turn can prompt us to hide away from living.

His stalwart and patient female companion, May, stands by his side and tries to help him make sense of this mysterious and imprecise threat which he feels hangs over him. Will this ‘beast’ lurking in the jungle of his unconscious ever be unleashed? Perhaps James’s finest example of a subversion of the traditional love story.

Oscar Wilde, ‘ The Devoted Friend ’.

This is one of the fairy tales for children written by the Irish author Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). It was published in the 1888 collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales .

‘The Devoted Friend’ is about a Miller named Hugh, who professes to be devoted to his friend Hans, but in actual fact he uses Hans and insists on his performing endless favours for him without Hugh giving anything back in return. The story is about a very one-sided friendship, and evokes sympathy for poor Hans as we realise how selfish Hugh is towards his kind friend. A friend in need and all that …

O. Henry, ‘ Telemachus, Friend ’.

The (very) short stories of the US short-story writer O. Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), are characterised by their irony, their occasional sentimentality, and by their surprise twist endings.

The narrator of this story is returning from a hunting trip in New Mexico when he heard the ensuing tale from a hotel proprietor named Telemachus Hicks. When the narrator pointed to Hicks’ mutilated ear, Hicks said that the ear was a relic of true friendship …

Saki, ‘ Fur ’.

abstract essay on friendship

James Joyce, ‘ After the Race ’.

This story, from James Joyce’s 1914 collection Dubliners , focuses on what happens after a motorcar race has finished, over the rest of the day – and throughout the same night. The protagonist, Jimmy Doyle, and his European friends walk around Dublin, go to dinner at a hotel, talk about politics and music among other things, and then catch the train to the harbour where they go to a yacht and proceed to get drunk dancing and playing cards.

J. D. Salinger, ‘ Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes ’.

‘Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes’ is, fundamentally, a story about lies and deception, in which three people involved in an eternal love triangle show themselves all to be dishonest in their dealings with each other.

Lee and Joanie are being dishonest to Arthur by conducting an affair behind his back. Meanwhile, Arthur, too, is capable of deceit, phoning his friend back and pretending that his wife has come home after all. The friendship between Arthur and Lee forms the centrepiece of this Salinger story.

Grace Paley, ‘ Friends ’.

Paley (1922-2007) offers us a tale of three female friends, Ann, Susan, and Faith. Faith narrates the story of the three friends’ visit to see their friend Selena, who is dying, and its aftermath, which sees the three central characters reminiscing about their lives and their friendship together.

Donald Barthelme, ‘ Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby ’.

The American writer Donald Barthelme (1931-89) is sometimes labelled as a ‘postmodernist’ writer (a label he was not entirely comfortable with, but reluctantly accepted) and, occasionally, ‘metafiction’ (a label he was less happy with). Many of his stories are deliberately absurdist, with hilarious but sometimes unnerving results.

This short story was first published in his 1976 anthology, Amateurs . The unsettling story sees a group of friends discussing how to hang their friend for committing an unnamed offence.

Alice Munro, ‘ Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage ’.

Alice Munro (born 1931) is one of the leading contemporary writers of short stories. This story, set in Ontario in Canada, focuses on the friendship between Sabitha and Edith. Edith convinces Sabitha to forge love letters from Sabitha’s father to Johanna, the unmarried housekeeper for Sabitha. But Edith and Sabitha’s cruel trick will have terrible ramifications for poor Johanna.

Raymond Carver, ‘ Where I’m Calling From ’

Let’s conclude this pick of classic friendship stories with a short story by the American writer Raymond Carver (1938-88), originally published in the New Yorker in 1982.

The story is about a man trying to give up alcohol dependency in a rehabilitation centre, and his attempts to call his estranged wife and current girlfriend, hence the story’s title, ‘Where I’m Calling From’. The story takes in the themes of loneliness, alienation, and the need for human connection and friendship.

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    Chapter 1 of Nehamas's book,"A Friend Is Another Self, distills two key. features of Aristotle's views on friendship. The first is that friendship"is an unalloyed good, a awless sort of love and one of life's greatest pleasures, fl making every life a better life than one without it (12). The second is.

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    Knowing how to write a good essay about friendship involves selecting a great topic and arranging your content in a manner that has logical flow. 1. Come Up With a Topic About Friendship. To brainstorm essay topics on friendship, consider the following. Reflect on your own experiences.

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    Friendship Summary: "Friendship" is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson that was first published in 1841. In this work, Emerson reflects on the nature of friendship and its role in human life. He argues that true friendship is based on mutual respect and understanding, and is characterized by a deep and genuine affection between individuals. ...

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    14. What Have Your Friends Taught You About Life? iStock/Getty Images. "My friends taught me different perspectives on life.". "My friends have taught me to not care what other people think ...

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    Friendship is a devoted relationship between two individuals. They both feel immense care and love for each other. Usually, a friendship is shared by two people who have similar interests and feelings. You meet many along the way of life but only some stay with you forever. Those are your real friends who stay by your side through thick and thin.

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    Abstract. This article surveys the numerous permutations and repercussions, political, ethical, and esthetic, of the hallowed notion of friendship in Montaigne's Essays. It also studies the literary genealogy and intertextual relations of friendship in the classical and vernacular tradition. The fiction of friendship has sustained a long ...

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