Abstract
To have friends is considered to be a normal and desirable aspect of a modern American social life. The mass media is filled with images of all types of people working and relaxing with one or more friends. Empirical studies support this image of friends as being an important part of the normal social life. In one such study, Lowenthal, Thurnher, and Chiriboga (1975) did an extensive survey of the friendship patterns of adults in the United States. They found that, on the average, people report having approximately six relationships that can be called friendships. However, this number varies in predictable ways with life stage. For example, newlyweds have the highest number of reported friends (eight). This is higher than the average five reported by high-schoolers, the average five reported by middle-age married persons, or the average six reported by persons about to retire. Even with these fluctuations it is clear that Americans typically have a substantial number of friends over the life cycle.
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Solano, C.H. (1986). People Without Friends: Loneliness and Its Alternatives. In: Derlega, V.J., Winstead, B.A. (eds) Friendship and Social Interaction. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4880-4_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4880-4_12
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