Friends vs. Families: Understanding Social Connections and Impact

This essay explores the fundamental differences between friends and family, examining their respective roles in providing support, guidance, and influencing individual lives. The essay delves into the dynamics of family relationships, including the impact of childhood experiences, parental influences, and sibling bonds. It contrasts these with the nature of friendships, highlighting the importance of chosen relationships and the qualities of true friends. Furthermore, the essay extends its analysis to the workplace, discussing how both friends and family-like relationships among colleagues contribute to organizational success and individual well-being. Through a comparative lens, the essay underscores the significance of both familial and chosen relationships in shaping individuals' identities, providing emotional support, and fostering personal and professional growth. The essay also provides insights into how managers can facilitate positive relationships in the workplace for better employee performance.

FRIENDS VERSUS
FAMILIES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Main body........................................................................................................................................3
Family.........................................................................................................................................3
Friends.........................................................................................................................................5
Friends and family at the workplace...........................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Family refers to the people who lives together due to having blood relations. Whereas
friends are the individuals which becomes familiar with time due to staying together, living
together, working or studying together. The friends and family always provides their support to
the individuals so that the individuals can perform their activities properly. The family also exist
in business organisations which are the people working together for achieving their shared goals.
This report will cover the topic 'You can choose your friends but not your relatives' and focus
exclusively on same-sex relationships and families.
Main body
Family
I grew up in a large British family due to which I learned various lessons through my life
and through my relationships. These lessons are learned from the adulthood and developed
throughout the age. Each and every individuals has their own and colourful childhood which
created the people we are today. These lessons are learned from various characters in the family
such as big-talking uncles, gossiping aunts, fighting siblings and neurotic parents etc. which
either makes us the skilful diplomats or amazing magicians which depends upon the person we
ask. Mother is the biggest teacher among these family members as she guides us from our initial
step in this world to our childhood, adulthood, elderhood etc. She stays with the family and her
children so that proper guidance and support can be provided to them by her (Lewis, 2011).
Everyone in this world has friends and family which guides the individuals in their life so that
suitable and appropriate path can be taken for taking the decisions regarding their life. Everyone
in this world thinks to change some members of their family. But it does not matter whether to
change or not, they will always stay the family members even if they had done something wrong.
Family relationships among the family members also includes the troubles, bitter and long
histories made up of resentments, rivalry, jealousies, secrecies etc. Due to this background of
experience, various people visit their family as a sense of obligation instead of pressure.
However, the length of the visit can be a day, week or month. After staying some time with
family, people often come away with a renewed sense of anger and resentment. However, the
relationship among the men of the family never gets old as they always behaves the same after
seeing other male members of the family (Fraser and et. al., 2012).

For example: The relationship among the son and mother always stay sweet and colourful
however, the relationship among the father and son will always be bitter but respectful as they
understand the struggle men have to face when they enter in their youth and had to leave the
home for earning money. The father knows that at some point of time, son has to leave the
mother and needs to start a new life for making his own family. Whereas mother always want
that her children or son stay with her comfortably. The father prepares the son for the future
challenges by making him realise that he is not worth of anything till he can earn the money for
the family (Stievenart and et. al., 2012). Such type of relationship also exist among the mother
and daughter. A mother knows that her daughter has to leave the home and has to live with
another men in order to start her new family and life after the marriage. She prepares her
daughter for the future challenges she is going to face after the marriage in handling the husband,
his family, her children etc. However, the father always keep their daughter like the princess as
they are aware that she will go through various life experiences and challenges in her future time
for which she needs strength and support from her family. Such type of relations does not exist in
each and every family members such as aunties and uncles which sometimes becomes jealous of
the person who is making progress in their family. The strong relationship also exist between the
siblings, they fought with each other and curse each other but when someone from outside of
family comes in between them, they protect each other and shut the mouth of the outsider. The
bond between the siblings is pure and clean due to which they support each other in their
decisions which also enhances their decision making capabilities and relationship among them.
The family members also provides their contribution in the development of the small family
members, they provides them the cultural values, moral values, ethical principles etc. which are
followed by them throughout their life span in order to behave and treat with each other people
properly. There are several other members which contributes to the family such as Uncles
(Fischer, 2011). The uncles provide their guidance to the small members of the family too. They
entertain the small kids of the family as well as offer them new ways of learning new things. My
family has always been there for me, although family usually stays with you forever. Families of
the individuals assist them in shaping their identity, which starts at birth. People are introduced
to various new people through the family. These people are having different interests and
personalities due to which people do not confine themselves to certain personalities. My habits
and ideas are very similar to those of my mother as I spent most of my time with her. Various

decisions and choices of mine are influenced by the influence of my mother. Due to this
influence, I can observe the consequences of the decisions taken by me due to which improved
decisions are taken by me (LeTendre and Fukuzawa, 2013).
Friends
No person can chose his/her family however they can choose their friends. There is a
considerable difference between the friends and family. Friends are the people whom individuals
complain about their family and family are the people individuals complain to about friends. My
friendship in the younger age was highly influenced by my mother. In the childhood, individuals
find it easy to make new friends as it is easier to get along with others. However, with the age
and experience, individuals find it difficult to make friends as they have to think regarding the
first impressions, interests and hobbies etc. which reflect individuals as a person. When people
see something they like, then it is the beginning of the friendship. When people fails in liking
something and they overlooked or judged, then they can lost the opportunity for making the
friendship. In my personal experience, I have a large number of friends which are chosen by me
by thinking carefully so as to avoid making the fiends with Drunks, lunatics, nymphomaniacs,
dope heads etc. which never do well and are complete wastes of space. The friends of the
individuals reflects who we are because the friends are extension of who we are or what we are
like (Fu, Padilla-Walker and Brown, 2017). The characteristics of the true friend includes mutual
respect, honest, caring and good person. Everyone looks for such friends who has all these above
discussed qualities. Through the personal life experiences, individuals get the learning or
knowledge regarding how to make good friends and how to identify good people so that these
can be converted to friends. The friends acquired by me are far more by luck than judgement
which anyone would gratefully accept as friends because they possess the qualities of true
friends. Friends are the people we chose to be around and sometimes these friends become closer
than the family because these friends like the way their friends are and they had chosen to be
friends with them anyway. The family members are not chosen are still get the love they
deserved whereas friends are the friends who are also liked by individuals. Real friendship needs
an interpersonal connection among the two friends which is generally identified by the mutual
agreement between two individuals based upon their own criteria (Padilla‐Walker and et. al.,
2015). Real friendship is very rare and special to be found and if once found, then individuals
needs to keep them for the lifetime so that the friendship can stay forever. Old friendships are

"tried and true" due to which they stays special. The friendship is not bound by the kinship ties
and these last for a long time as people choose to maintain the relation with their friends for a
long period of time. There are no obligations in friendship or between the friends due to which
they needs to deal with each other whether they want to or not. So, it can be said that the friends
are essential for the individuals in getting relaxed. These friends also provide their contribution
in joking and entertainment so that a sad friend can become happy. For example: I have various
friends but two of them are special for me as I am studying with them from our childhood. We
stays together in school, high school and college due to which a strong bond has been developed
among us which is unbroken and assist us in resolving the issues of each other (Croghan, Moone
and Olson, 2014). These were the friends who supported me in tough times due to which the
tough time went easily without harming anyone. These friends also contributed to each other in
the problems where financial issues occurred in past time. Together we survived the school and
college days along with staying happy as ideas are provided from each other for resolving the
complex issues and conflicts. Even we fought with several persons together when they said
cursed or abusive words. However, this fight results in injuries for us along with a FIR in the
police station. But the overall experience of having best friends is better than the feeling of
having a family. They possess same characteristics, same humour, sarcasm due to which they
keeps their friends happy.
Friends and family at the workplace
The friends and family also exist at the workplace. These in the business refers to the co-
workers and team members with whom close bonds can be developed by collaborative working.
These co-workers support each other in performing the work due to which improved results can
be obtained by the organisation. The individuals at the workplace needs to develop good
relations with the colleagues so that proper guidance and support can be received from them. The
coordination with the friends at the workplace assist the individuals in performing their work
with the required efficiency and performance as the challenges and issues of them can be
resolved by using shared efforts. These friends and family at the workplace allows the
individuals to showcase their extra ordinary abilities and skills for executing the work effectively
(Ramírez and et. al., 2013). However, the managers needs to set the boundaries and objectives
which should be accomplished by the employees in order to determine their performance. The
managers needs to provide the feedback to the employees at regular basis so that the weakness

can be eliminated by using the shared efforts and contribution from the team members and
friends (McConnell and et. al., 2011).
CONCLUSION
From the above shown essay, it has been concluded that each and every individual has
their family who provides their contribution in providing the support to individuals. Through this
support and guidance, individuals cab become successful in their career as ethical principles and
values are taught to them by family. Whereas friends are also essential for the individuals with
whom they can share their issues and concerns so that these can be resolved. These friends and
family together also motivate the individuals at the workplace for bringing maximum efforts to
the business.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Cerezo, F., Méndez, I. and Ato, M., 2013. Moderating role of family and friends’ factors between
disocial behavior and consumption in adolescents. International Journal of Clinical and
Health Psychology. 13(3). pp.171-180.
Croghan, C.F., Moone, R.P. and Olson, A.M., 2014. Friends, family, and caregiving among
midlife and older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults. Journal of
Homosexuality. 61(1). pp.79-102.
Curtis, C. and Loomans, C., 2014. Friends, family, and their influence on body image
dissatisfaction. Women's Studies Journal. 28(2). p.39.
Fischer, C.S., 2011. Still connected: Family and friends in America since 1970. Russell Sage
Foundation.
Fraser and et. al., 2012. Associations between violent video gaming, empathic concern, and
prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family members. Journal of youth and
adolescence. 41(5), pp.636-649.
Fu, X., Padilla-Walker, L.M. and Brown, M.N., 2017. Longitudinal relations between
adolescents' self-esteem and prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends and family.
Journal of adolescence. 57. pp.90-98.
LeTendre, G.K. and Fukuzawa, R.E., 2013. Intense years: How Japanese adolescents balance
school, family and friends. Routledge.
Lewis, G.B., 2011. The friends and family plan: Contact with gays and support for gay rights.
Policy Studies Journal. 39(2). pp.217-238.
McConnell and et. al., 2011. Friends with benefits: on the positive consequences of pet
ownership. Journal of personality and social psychology. 101(6). p.1239.
Padilla‐Walker and et. al., 2015. Adolescents' prosocial behavior toward family, friends, and
strangers: A person‐centered approach. Journal of Research on Adolescence. 25(1).
pp.135-150.
Padilla‐Walker and et. al., 2015. Associations between friendship, sympathy, and prosocial
behavior toward friends. Journal of Research on Adolescence. 25(1). pp.28-35.
Ramírez and et. al., 2013. Information seeking from media and family/friends increases the
likelihood of engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors. Journal of health communication.
18(5). pp.527-542.
Stievenart and et. al., 2012. The friends and family interview: measurement invariance across
Belgium and Romania. European Journal of Developmental Psychology. 9(6). pp.737-
743.