What number of shut associates do People have?
People place a whole lot of significance on friendship. In truth, 61% of U.S. adults say having shut associates is extraordinarily or crucial for folks to reside a satisfying life, based on a recent Pew Research Center survey. That is far larger than the shares who say the identical about being married (23%), having kids (26%) or having some huge cash (24%).
Pew Analysis Middle performed this evaluation to know People’ views of and experiences with friendship. It’s based mostly on a survey of 5,057 U.S. adults performed from July 17-23, 2023. Everybody who took half on this survey is a member of the Middle’s American Developments Panel (ATP), an internet survey panel that’s recruited by means of nationwide, random sampling of residential addresses. This manner practically all U.S. adults have an opportunity of choice. The survey is weighted to be consultant of the U.S. grownup inhabitants by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, schooling and different classes. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.
Listed below are the questions used for the analysis, together with responses, and its methodology.
We determined to ask a couple of extra questions to higher perceive how People are experiencing friendship at this time. Right here’s what we discovered:
Variety of shut associates
A slim majority of adults (53%) say they’ve between one and 4 shut associates, whereas a major share (38%) say they’ve 5 or extra. Some 8% say they don’t have any shut associates.
There’s an age divide within the variety of shut associates folks have. About half of adults 65 and older (49%) say they’ve 5 or extra shut associates, in contrast with 40% of these 50 to 64, 34% of these 30 to 49 and 32% of these youthful than 30. In flip, adults below 50 are extra probably than their older counterparts to say they’ve between one and 4 shut associates.
There are solely modest variations within the variety of shut friendships women and men have. Half of males and 55% of girls say they’ve between one and 4 shut associates. And 40% of males and 36% of girls say they’ve 5 or extra shut associates.
Gender of associates
Most adults (66%) say all or most of their shut associates are the identical gender as them. Ladies usually tend to say this than males (71% vs. 61%).
Amongst adults ages 50 and older, 74% of girls – in contrast with 59% of males – say all or most of their shut associates are the identical gender as them. Amongst adults youthful than 50, the distinction is far smaller: 67% of girls on this age group say this, as do 63% of males.
Race and ethnicity of associates
A majority of adults (63%) say all or most of their shut associates are the identical race or ethnicity as them – although this varies throughout racial and ethnic teams.
White adults (70%) are extra probably than Black (62%), Hispanic (47%) and Asian adults (52%) to say this.
This additionally differs by age. Adults 65 and older are the most probably (70%) to say all or most of their shut associates share their race or ethnicity, in contrast with 53% of adults below 30 – the bottom share amongst any age group.
Satisfaction with friendships
Nearly all of People with not less than one shut pal (72%) say they’re both fully or very glad with the standard of their friendships. These 50 and older are extra probably than their youthful counterparts to be extremely glad with their friendships (77% vs. 67%).
The survey additionally finds that having extra associates is linked to being extra glad with these friendships. Some 81% of these with 5 or extra shut associates say they’re fully or very glad with their friendships. By comparability, 65% of these with one to 4 shut associates say the identical.
The survey didn’t ask adults who reported having no shut associates about their degree of satisfaction with their friendships.
What do associates discuss?
Of the dialog subjects requested about, the commonest are work and household life. Amongst these with not less than one shut pal, 58% say work comes up in dialog extraordinarily usually or usually, whereas 57% say household comes up this usually. About half say the identical about present occasions (48%).
There are variations by gender and age within the topics that People focus on with their shut associates:
Variations by gender
Ladies are more likely than males to say they discuss to their shut associates about their household extraordinarily usually or usually (67% vs. 47%).
Ladies additionally report speaking about their bodily well being (41% vs. 31%) and psychological well being (31% vs. 15%) extra usually than males do with shut associates. The gender hole on psychological well being is especially broad amongst adults youthful than 50: 43% of girls on this age group, in contrast with 20% of males, say they usually focus on this subject with shut associates.
By smaller however nonetheless important margins, ladies are additionally extra probably than males to speak usually about their work (61% vs. 54%) and popular culture (37% vs. 32%) with their shut associates.
Males, in flip, are extra probably than ladies to say they discuss with their shut associates about sports activities (37% vs. 13%) and present occasions (53% vs. 44%).
Variations by age
These ages 65 and older (45%) are extra probably than youthful People to say they usually discuss with their shut associates about their bodily well being.
There are two subjects the place younger adults – these below 30 – stand out from different age teams.
About half of those younger adults (52%) say they usually discuss with their associates about popular culture. This compares with a couple of third or fewer amongst older age teams. And younger adults usually tend to say they usually discuss their psychological well being with shut associates: 37% say this, in contrast with 29% of these 30 to 49 and 14% of these 50 and older.