To think women with sisters are often better at female friendships?

[Tartanchair01]

I only have 1 sibling, a brother.

I would say I’ve struggled with female friendships my whole life. I do now have lots of good, female friends but this has taken years of work and I still now am not good in a group of women.

I’ve observed over the years that my friends who have sisters all seem to also have lots of female friends and don’t seem to struggle in big, female groups, in fact I’d say they are the people I know who do have big, female friendship groups.

I’ve always thought perhaps it’s because they’re so used to how to be around other women and can navigate the common issues surrounding female friendships and female friendship groups better than women that have grown up with a lot of male siblings (well, can navigate them better than me anyway 🙈)

Obviously this is a purely anecdotal observation lol, but it’s got me thinking.

I have a sister who I'm close to...I actually think it has made me worse at friendships! I do have friends but I don't often have the motivation to make more as I know I can always hang out with my sister!

I'm not convinced. I have just a brother but never struggled to make female friends.

Snap

Too much of a generalisation. Sad view of life. Not in my case. I know quite a few women reasonably closely through close friends, school mums, both boys play football so I see these women every week and we go on holiday together and socialise together. Few have sisters, most have brothers, a few are only children.

I think it's just you and you have a skewed view of it. Close friends are very important to me and I have 2 older brothers.

I dunno. I have 7 of the buggers so I don't really bother to maintain friendships, if I want support or company (or a bloody good row) there's always a sister to hand. Theoretically you are probably right though op.

One sister (who I get on really well with) and no brothers here. I've never been great at female friendships tbh and have never had a close group of women friends (I'm 51).

As someone who has 2 brothers and also struggles with female friendships I would agree with you.
I've always had male friends going right back to school days. Just find them easier to get on with!

No, because not all sisters are equal and people have different personalities. Having the innate ability to read body language and social cues plus knowing the right things to say at the right time are better indicators in my opinion.

Plenty of women have sisters whom they dislike and don't want to spend time with. Why would that make you a better friend than someone who doesn't have a sister but does have a warm and caring personality?

Off topic but I do wonder if some posters on here know how rude they come across in their responses. Totally over the top given the OP.

I don't have sisters. I have close female friends who are like sisters to me.

I have two brothers and zero close female friendships. I did when I was younger, but always seemed to struggle with them

I have two sisters, that I adore. Unfortunately it doesn't make me any less socially awkward. I have female friends but only one-to-one relationships and I have just as many male friends.

Surely though females with brothers would get on well with each other, according to your theory?

I don’t think it’s generally true. I’m not close to either of my sisters, but have close, sustaining female friendships.

I don’t think it’s generally true either, although I’m the opposite. I come from a larger than average family, all girls. I’m very close to them but have no close, sustaining female friendships. My sisters do, to varying degrees.

I’ve got a couple of female friendship groups.

In one group we have:
2 women with 1 sister
1 woman with 2 sisters
1 only child
1 with a sister and a brother
1 with a brother
1 with 2 brothers

In the other group we have:
2 with 1 brother
2 with 1 sister
1 only child

So doesn’t bear out in my experience! Interestingly almost all my friends are either only children or eldests - of the 11 people above there’s only one youngest and 1 middle child. So I always think that’s much more telling (aka we’re all neurotic type A perfectionists…)

I only have a brother but have a close network of female friends. I also have two daughters who are vile to each other at 13 and 10 years of age.

I’d agree with this actually, as a teenager I often couldn’t be arsed with the girl politics and would hang out with my sister instead 😂

No not true, generally. I have a brother and no sisters. Have wonderful close life long female friendships (including with my SIL) and also make friends easily.

Of those close long life friendships, some are with women with no sisters, some have sisters. There is no difference in how they relate to me as a friend depending on if they have sisters.

I sometimes catch myself thinking that those with sisters don't 'need' me so much, but actually I don't think that's true. They have one type of relationship with their sisters, and another with me. They still need me, and value me, as a close female friend who will be there for the good and the bad.

Sibling relationships are both easier and harder than friendships and that's the same regardless of if you have a brother or a sister.

I don't have any siblings (that I grew up with anyway) and I have both male and female friends, always have 🤷🏻‍♀️ Only children often learn how to make friends, because they don't have permanent playmates at home.

I don't think it can be generalised.

I have excellent female friends. I can't stand my sister.

I have 3 brothers and always preferred the company of men. Until recently I was part of a group 8 women. They were so toxic, bitched about each other behind their backs and there seemed to be a lot of jealousy. Loved drama! Best thing I did was walk away from them.

I only have one female friend who I've had for 16 years. I don't speak to any of my friends from school, again jealousy and bitchiness. Just can't be arsed with it. You know where you stand with male friends.

I have a DB, I have girlfriends but I much prefer male company. Always have.

Never put it down to not having a Dsis. Interesting 🤔

My experience is that having sisters makes no difference. It's all about you and your friends and what you are all like. All my life I have wanted close friends but I've learned I'm just not built like that. Sadly, people vote with their feet.
My mother has four sisters. She's not overly close to any of them. I don't think they email or talk on the phone even once a month. She has never had much of a friendship group, male or female. The first time she married (to my dad) she had one of her sisters was bridesmaid and another was a flowergirl. When she remarried a few years ago, my DDs and I were her 'bridesmaids'.
I have a sister, no brothers. We are pretty close, talk on the phone often not every week but most. We live in different countries so can't meet in person often but I think we would if we could. Sometimes she visits my country, sometimes I visit hers and we always meet up then.
She has a group of female friends. They organised a hen party for her even though none of them was a bridesmaid. They let me tag along b/c I was DSis' bridesmaid.
I have lots of acquaintances. When I married I was not close enough friends with woman for her to be a bridesmaid except DSis. I had no hen party. Currently, I have one v. close girlfriend from university. We reconnected a few years ago and it's been GREAT! We text often and sometimes go on holiday together. I am good friends with my neighbour but otherwise, am not very close.

Oh wow just realising this might be my issue!

I have a number of good female friends, four to whom I'm very close and two of these particularly so. The former two have a sister. The latter two don't, and neither do I. These two women I consider my sisters - but chosen ones, rather than designated by blood. One of them I grew up with, having known her since I was four years old, and we have a shared history as so many sisters do. There is no one else alive other than my brother with whom I share this bond.

None of these people particularly go in for all-female friendship groups, although some of us do socialize as couples. And my best friend in the whole world was my mum.

I have a husband, brother, son and male friends whom I love dearly. But it's fair to say that any abuse and trauma I've experienced in my life has been at the hands of men. And, aside from DH, my saviours have always been other women.