Boys, You Now Have An Actual Scientific Reason To Party More

Are you left frustrated by your man’s ‘exclusive’ boys’ night outs, where you aren’t invited? Do you often wonder the amount of his promiscuous transgressions on such wild nights, without your supervision? Time to lay your fears to rest, or is it?

Women often tend to overthink a lot of things, although most of those are totally legit. Amirite? However, there is this one thing which worries them the most about their boyfriends, a ‘boys’ night out’. Boys' night out has many different connotations, it can be a wild bachelor party or an evening of beer and football. But there’s one thing in common among all these i.e. Girls or Girlfriends are a strict ‘no-no’. But as much as you dread these ‘promiscuous’ socialization, believe us, there’s a scientific reason for boys to hang out with their bros. New research has found that men maintain friendships not through an emotional sharing of feelings via conversations over phone or irl (like women) but, through activities.

The Guardian first reported this story that Oxford University psychology professor Robin Dunbar has published a new study which found that women can maintain long-distance friendships by simply talking over the phone, but men have to meet up in person to keep their friendships. In Dunbar’s research, he asked 30 students in high school to list and rank their dearest friends. This, he followed up by keeping in touch with them nine and 18 months after graduation to see if the bonds lasted.

The study showed the fascinating result that women were able to keep friendships alive, even if they were far apart. However, for men, it was important to meet their friends in person. Dunbar told The Guardian, “What held up their friendships was doing stuff together...Going to a football match, going to the pub for a drink, playing five-a-side. They had to make the effort. It was a very striking sex difference.”

Alternately, when the friendships didn’t work out, the consequences differed by gender as well. Close friendships of women in the study ended “catastrophically,” while men simply drifted apart in most cases. Dubar even specified the number of ‘Bros’ a man usually has, “[Men] tend to have a group of four guys that they do stuff with...With guys, it is out of sight, out of mind. They just find four more guys to go drinking with.”

While this might be considered a fairly reductive study but other studies have also shown the importance of male bonds. Psychiatrist Jacqueline Olds told The New York Times in 2016 that men’s friendships are more often based on mutual activities like sports and work rather than what’s happening to them psychologically.

So, girls, it’s time to give those boys a break. Rest assured that their night outs without you will usually involve a whole lotta Budweiser and smack talk about cricket. You too should chill out with your buds, with some chilled Buds! Cheers!