The relationship between social support and well-being is well established in social psychology, with evidence suggesting that these benefits are especially prominent among women. When faced with an environmental stressor, women are more likely to adopt a tend-and-befriend strategy rather than fight-or-flight. Furthermore, female friendships tend to be higher in self-disclosure and more frequently relied on for social support, which is associated with physical and psychological benefits. Women are also more effective at providing social support, further augmenting those benefits. We begin with an overview of the characteristics of women's social ties and how they can be especially useful in times of stress. We then transition to the benefits of female social networks even in the absence of negative events and incorporate research from health and social psychology to consider the positive implications of having strong social bonds and the negative implications of lacking such bonds. Additionally, we consider cross-cultural differences in tendencies to seek out social support and its subsequent benefits, as well as the need for more research with culturally diverse samples. It remains unclear the extent to which patterns of social support benefits for women vary cross-culturally. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives’.

Thriving together: the benefits of women's social ties for physical, psychological and relationship health

Sometimes we want vicious friends: People have nuanced preferences for how they want their friends to behave toward them versus others

Human Females as a Dispersal-Egalitarian Species: A Hypothesis about Women and Status

With the surge of social media use in contemporary society, scholars have focused on how feelings of apprehension that one is missing out on important social activities (i.e., fear of missing out [FoMO]) might influence mental health. However, worry surrounding social inclusion is not a contemporary problem, and successfully participating in social events is an important aspect of human evolutionary history. To our knowledge, researchers have yet to frame the phenomenon of FoMO in an evolutionary perspective. In a sample of N = 327 heterosexual American adults (Mage = 36.94, SD = 10.24), we found that FoMO correlated positively with status-striving and intrasexual competitiveness, as well as unrestricted sociosexual behavior and desires. Among females, but not males, FoMO was negatively linked to received social support. Results highlight how adults higher in FoMO express a greater inclination to compete for evolutionarily salient social and reproductive resources and devote more effort toward short-term mating. FoMO may also alert females to the absence of desired social support. Findings provide insight into the utility of an evolutionary approach to studying individual differences in the experience of FoMO, which can aid in gathering a more comprehensive understanding of the construct. 

Laureon A. Merrie

Papers

Sex (Similarities and) Differences in Friendship Jealousy