Friendship

An article in Monday's New York Times (2009) points out that social networks may provide many health benefits, specifically noting higher rates of breast cancer survival among nurses with 10 or more friends (Kroenke et al, 2006). While the NYT article does not suggest any gender difference, a study by Shye et al (1995) found that friendship had different protective effects for men and women. Both men and women's mortality rates were affected by social support, but the support effect was mediated in men by health status: "no such indirect effect was found for women". Men also seemed to receive benefits from a smaller group of friends in this 15 year study.

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Two things jump out at me about the Shye study: three if you count the fact that it's a study on friendship by someone named "Shy". First of all, if there's no mediation by health status, that sounds to me like women with more friends are living longer while being just as sick as those who die lonely. Secondly, I think that there may be a relationship between men's already shorter lifespans and the size of the friend groups they need: they're not likely to outlive as many of their friendships.

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