最新研究表明 男女維繫友誼的方式大不相同

Your ability to keep long-distance friendships alive may depend on your gender, according to a new study.

一項最新研究表明，你的性別可能會決定你保持一段異地友誼的能力。

Whereas a good gossip on the phone is enough for women to stay close to each other, regular calls have absolutely no effect on men.

雖然女性之間可以通過電話聊天來維持彼此的感情，不過男性間進行定期通話顯然毫無作用。

According to psychologists at Oxford University, male friends need to make the effort to meet up face to face if their "bromance" is to survive.

來自牛津大學的心理學家認爲，如果男人希望“基情”長久，就要經常見面。

Professor Robin Dunbar followed a group of 30 teenagers as they left home to start university or pursue careers, and found a "striking sex difference" in the factors that decided whether a friendship flourished or floundered.

羅賓·鄧巴教授對30個爲大學學業或個人事業離開家鄉的少年進行了跟蹤調查，調查發現，決定一段友誼是繼續發展還是就此沉寂的因素存在着“讓人震驚的性別差異”。

He said: "The caricature is if you move away to another town, girls will be on the phone or Facebook with each other to keep the relationship going.

他表示：“如果女性搬去別的城鎮，那麼通過電話或者臉書，她們的友誼可以維持下去。”

"With guys, it is 'out of sight, out of mind'. They just find four more guys to go drinking with."

“至於男性，則是'眼不見，心不念'，他們還是會叫上四五個人一起喝酒。”

Prof Dunbar explained that male friendships endure when mates meet up and do stuff together - whether it is a drink down the pub, watching the football, or playing a five-a-side game.

鄧巴教授解釋稱，男性朋友間只有經常見面，一起活動--無論是去酒吧喝酒，看足球賽還是踢室內足球--才能維持友誼。

He believes that telephone calls work better for women because female friendships have a greater intensity than male ones - and are more similar to romantic relationships, which can break catastrophically.

他認爲通電話對女性來說作用更大，因爲女性之間的感情比男人之間的要更親密--和情侶關係有些相似，有時一旦破裂，堪稱一場災難。

Because of this, women are more motivated to safeguard their friendships - even over long distances.

正因如此，女性維護友誼的動機才更強烈--即使彼此遠隔萬里。