Table of Contents

Introduction Friendship Basics

Part I: Why Women Need Friends
1. The Biology of Friendship - to "Tend and Befriend"
2. Friendship in Context: Social Relationships in the USA
3. "Friendology"or the Science of Friendship

Part II: Friendship Chronology
4. Early Childhood: First Friends
5. Adolescent Friendships: Seeking Ourselves in our Friends
6. Emerging Adulthood: Decisions, Decisions
7. Coupled-Up but No Kids Yet
8. Motherhood: Kids on Board
9. The Midlife Years: Re-Connecting with Ourselves & Seeking Companions
10. The Long Road Home: Community and Friendship in Older Adulthood

Part III: Making Friends - Starting with Yourself
11. Understanding Who You Are as a Friend
12. Roadblocks to Friendships

Part IV: Taking a Census of your Circle of Friends
13. Mapping Out Your FriendScape
14. Redesigning Your Social Landscape
15. Finding New Friends

Part V: Strategies for Survival - Building and Maintaining Lasting Friendships
16. Building Strong Friendships from the Beginning
17. Tips to Strengthen Existing Friendships
18. Friendship in the Digital Age: Technology Keeps Us Connected-Sometimes!
19. Full-Time Friend, Part-Time Lover: Making Friends with your Mate
20. Coming Full Circle with a Circle of Friends

About the Author

Suzanne Degges-White is a counselor in private practice and associate professor of counseling and development at Purdue University Calumet. She is the author of several book chapters, journal articles, and other publications.

Christine Borzumato-Gainey is a counselor and instructor at Elon University, NC. She is the author of several publications and presentations.

Reviews

Friends Forever carefully and cheerfully covers every aspect and stage of girls' and women's friendships with each other. Easy to read, well-researched, and with wonderful case examples, this book is a must for anyone wishing to understand the ins and outs of these vitally important relationships.
*Geoffrey L. Greif, PhD, University of Maryland School of Social Work, author of Buddy System: Understanding Male Friendships*

Friends are vital to our health and happiness, but finding and keeping pals is not always easy. This wise book offers solid advice on how to build and maintain strong friendships and an essential network of support. The authors shed light on the potholes of friendship to prevent us from stumbling and tell how to be the kind of friend whose relationships will endure 'forever.'
*Marla Paul, author of The Friendship Crisis: Finding, Making and Keeping Friends When You're Not a Kid Anymore*

Women building and maintaining lasting friendships is a 'strategy for survival,' the authors posit, anchoring their argument in the basics of biology. Namely the fact that women’s brains are more 'friendship-ready' with superior in-utero development of what neuroscientists dub 'the social brain,' which controls communication, nurturing, and understanding of social nuances. Girls enter the world better able to observe and remember emotional details and comprehend nonverbal communication since female biology clearly developed 'to encourage and support strong alliances' as a safety net. Throughout the 'friendship chronology' from early childhood’s first friends through midlife’s reconnection with ourselves and others’ companionship and the communities formed by older adults, new friendships are always in the offing, thanks to the female biological tendency toward 'an unfailing authenticity, candid self-awareness, and the ability to focus on the needs and interests of others over ourselves.' Degges-White and Borzumato-Gainey’s authorial collaboration has produced a resource as valuable, perhaps, as a friend.
*Booklist*

Gleaning from their own experiences with friends, families, and responsibilities, and supported by hundreds of interviews, Degges-White and Borzumato-Gainey attempt to make sense of female relationships, from why we need them to how to make them. Highlighting the murky differences between female and male friendships, this work is clearly written by women for women. The book tracks and analyzes female friendships from early childhood to late life, tackling milestones like coupling, marriage, and childbirth. Parallel features of female friendships arise at every age, from the obvious (forming friendships based on common interest) to more crucial elements of trust, honesty, and reciprocity. Relatable tales and easy-to-implement recommendations will equip female readers with the confidence to form new, lasting friendships and the language with which to discuss their current ones. In the end, making friends for women of any age, at any stage in life, will seem less daunting and more inviting than ever.
*Publishers Weekly*

This readable, research-based study is both an academic resource and a self-help book for women wanting to deepen friendships or broaden their friendship circles. The authors, who are both counselors and scholars, review the concept of friendship from various viewpoints: individual psychology, social psychology, and individual well-being and personal development. The book's 20 chapters (organized into five sections) examine friendship across the life span, from early childhood to old age, and across life conditions (single, married, divorced, parenting, career, and so on). Not included in the developmental discussion are issues of race and religion across friends; such analysis would have made the book richer than it already is. The first section reviews human social connection, offering some historical background and commenting on social media in friendships; the second considers friendship from a developmental perspective. The last three sections offer self-help materials: how to analyze oneself as a friend, understand one's friendship landscape, and build and sustain friendships over time. Including chapter references, this book is useful in both academic and personal settings—including by psychotherapists as bibliotherapy.
*CHOICE*

“Degges-White and Borzumato-Gainey have interviewed hundreds of women from toddlers to the elderly and have compiled their stories to benefit our relationships”

“Learn how to find new friends and enhance the relationships with your current ones”

“There is a cultural and biological drive in women that steer us toward deep friendships and this book delves into those depths”
*Fort Wayne's Glo*