Friends' Break Ups Are Much Harder Than Lovers'

By Priya Devi

Monday, April 12, 2010, 13:56

“Friendship is like a rubber band. It's too flexible; Stretch it as much as you can; But if you leave it it hurts you a lot," says a saying. It is true, dumping friends can be more difficult than ditching lovers, says a new study.

Friendships can often turn stressful, infuriating and even damaging. It is extremely difficult to end it, especially for women.

"The ethics of friendship are very strong which makes it very hard to end a friendship, even when it has stopped being fun, because we feel terribly guilty about it. There is a real sense of duty which is hard to break," says the sociologists from Manchester University.

More than 200 people were quizzed as part of the study titled 'Mass Observation Project".