Page 32 - Pure Life 04

A Good Friend in Islam /31

It is safe to say here that the foundations of friendship
have been laid through the lives of the early humans and
thus it is nothing less than a law of nature itself. However
it is important to state here that all human interaction does
not necessarily end in a positive and mutually beneficial
relationship.
Stronger relationships call for sacrifices, emotional and
logical control, teamwork and leadership as and when
required. White (2015) describing the characteristics of a
positive and quality friend says that generally across
cultures, i) honesty, ii) dependability, iii) loyalty, iv)
trustworthiness, v) empathy, vi) listening skills, vii) the
ability to be non-judgmental, viii) supportive behavior, ix)
the ability to be fun, and x) self-confidence are important
and determining elements. Apart from this, the
relationship of friendship itself should be unconditional
and committed (Argintar, 2014).
Further noting the impacts of high quality friendship
Berndt (2002) states that: a high quality friendship is
related to higher levels of pro-social behavior and
intimacy and lower levels of conflict, negative emotions
and rivalry. This implies that in the presence of quality
friendships, a person is more likely to have a satisfied
emotional and social life with significantly lesser levels of
stressful elements as compared to in its absence.
Within the field of developmental psychology a
research conducted by Ladd et al (1996) took data from
kindergarten children and studied the impacts of
friendships on their feelings, perceptions and behaviors.
The research findings revealed that the children who had
high quality friendships in January reported greater liking
from the school and higher levels of perceived classmates’
support.