Optimal Circle of Friends Depends on Socioeconomic Conditions

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/too-big-or-just-right-optimal-circle-of-friends-depends-on-socioeconomic-conditions.html

December 12, 2012
For Immediate Release
Contact: Anna Mikulak
Association for Psychological Science

Some people like to have a few close friends, while others prefer a wider social circle that is perhaps less deep. These preferences reflect people’s personalities and individual circumstances — but is one approach to social networks “better” than the other? New research suggests that the optimal social networking strategy depends on socioeconomic conditions.

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“In the age of Facebook, many Americans seem to opt for a broad, shallow networking strategy. Yet, cross-cultural research has shown that having many friends is not always viewed positively outside the United States,” Oishi and Kesebir write.

One reason that Americans may prefer a large social network, the researchers surmise, is because Americans move around a lot. Thus, it may make sense to spread time and resources across many friends to minimize the loss of any one friend moving away.

Another important factor may be the economic conditions at a given time. When times are prosperous, your friends are less likely to need much help, whether it’s covering a hospital bill or providing babysitting, and so a broad network of friends is easy to maintain. But when times aren’t as flush, having more friends might incur huge costs in terms of both time and resources.

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The findings from the second study echoed those of the first study. In zip codes that were residentially stable and relatively low income, participants who had a narrow, deep friendship strategy reported greater well-being than those who had a broad, shallow friendship strategy. Notably, the broad, shallow strategy was associated with subjective well-being in all three of the other economic conditions (low income-unstable, high income-stable, high income-unstable).

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