Female friendships had an average longevity of 16 years, according to the data. While that isn't precisely forever, it is significantly longer than the typical romantic partnership of ten years. Older women were more likely to say their friends were important to them, the study found. In fact, older women were about three times as likely as younger women to say they had very close female friends. The researchers think this may be because older women are better at maintaining relationships over time because they have more life experience to draw on. They also may have changed their expectations of what relationships with women should be like — maybe believing that friendships between women can be just as strong as those between men. "I've always thought of myself as pretty loyal," said one woman in her sixties who had been friends with several women throughout her life. "I guess I was born lucky because I've never had anything bad happen to me when a friend moved away or got married. I still talk to all my old friends every now and then, and some are even closer than others!" Even though female friendships aren't as common among young people today, they don't last any shorter than male friendships. Young people today tend to start out relationship tight-lipped about their feelings, but as time passes they usually become more open with each other.