Fulfilling Relationships

Dianne Wetherbee spoke of the sense of belonging offered by relationships, a theme echoed by Ann Francis in her interview. "In the political science and even history there were very few women, so in both of those majors I gravitated to women. We formed these little study groups. It was a natural affinity, we weren’t asked to do that, we just did it - it was exciting to be in those study groups. We really helped each other along. So it was... almost an organic coming together."

Ann Francis spoke of the way that positive relationships with other people throughout her education, activism, and factory-work-as-activism sustained her.

"Living my conviction, or trying to live by the beliefs and values that I have, and aligning and trying to find people who [also do]... it’s brought me into contact with just the most wonderful people you can imagine."

With a group of other women, Ann went to work in the factories, acting on a commitment to find well-paying jobs for women and people of color.

"Through that experience and through learning and being in community and connecting with other people who were trying to do the same thing, it was extremely helpful... it was validating. We had made these choices, and it was hard, and everybody could laugh at them, and it didn’t feel so personal and individual. It felt more like an understanding of a system that was very difficult to change."

Ann Francis's highlighting validation, like Dianne Wetherbee's referring to sense of belonging, speaks to one way in which friendship is fulfilling.  Psychologists include at least five other ways applicable to children and adults alike: companionship, alliance, security, intimacy, and support (for example, Asher and Parker, 1989; Mendelson and Aboud, 1999).

Works Cited

Asher, S.R., & Parker, J.G. (1989) Significance of peer relationship problems in childhood. In: B.H. Schneider, G. Attili, J. Nadel, & R.P. Weissberg R.P. (Eds.) Social Competence in Developmental Perspective. NATO ASI Series (Series D: Behavioural and Social Sciences), volume 51. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2442-0_1

Mendelson, M. J., & Aboud, F. E. (1999) Measuring friendship quality in late adolescents and young adults: McGill Friendship Questionnaires. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement 31: 130-132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0087080