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Why people make friends: The nature of friendship
Author(s) -
Apostolou Menelaos,
Keramari Despoina,
Kagialis Antonios,
Sullman Mark
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/pere.12352
Subject(s) - friendship , psychology , social psychology , facet (psychology) , sample (material) , qualitative research , developmental psychology , sociology , big five personality traits , social science , chemistry , personality , chromatography
Friendship constitutes an important facet of human behavior, and the current research investigated the reasons that motivate people to make friends. First, a combination of qualitative research methods were used to identify 41 perceived reasons why people make friends. Using a sample of 1,316 Greek‐speaking participants, these reasons were classified into five broad factors. Participants indicated that the most important reasons for making friends were to receive social input, support, and because of someone else's good qualities. Sex differences and age effects were found in most factors. Finally, the five factors were classified into two broader domains, the first reflecting motivation to make a true friendship and the second to gain opportunistic benefits.