Friendship is a relationship of mutual
affection between two or more people.Friendship is a stronger form of
interpersonal bond than an association. Friendship has been studied in academic fields such as
sociology,
social psychology,
anthropology, and
philosophy. Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, including
social exchange theory,
equity theory,
relational dialectics, and
attachment styles. A World Happiness Database study found that people with close friendships are happier.
Although there are many forms of friendship, some of which may vary
from place to place, certain characteristics are present in many types
of friendship. Such characteristics include affection,
sympathy,
empathy,
honesty,
altruism, mutual
understanding and
compassion,
