You lost half of your friends in 7 years

Still talking happily with someone recently? Still have a good friend to help you move home? You are a very lucky person if that friend still does that for 7 years. The sociologists of Gerald Mollenhorst studied the impact of the context in which we meet other people for our social network. One of the conclusions is that you lose half of your network's close members within 7 years.

You have only one family but you can choose friends. Really? For many years sociologists have argued that to what extent a personal social network is the result of your choice or the context in which you meet someone. Is your best friend the best friend if you are not in the same class for 3 years? If you don't get to know your wife through friends, in a bar, will she become your wife? To answer such questions, Mollenhorst conducted a survey of 1007 people aged between 18 and 65. Seven years later these people were contacted again and 604 people interviewed. They answer questions like: Who do you talk to about important personal issues? Who helps you with DIY at home? Who is the friend you often meet? You know where that person is? And where do you often meet that person?

Limit in choice

Mollenhorst studies whether the social context in which communication occurs affects the degree of similarity between partners, friends and acquaintances. The impact of social context on relationship similarity will be stronger for superficial relationships than more intimate relationships. You are often less picky about choosing acquaintances than choosing partners. In relation to partners, Mollenhorst found more similarities than friends.

You lost half of your close network members within 7 years.(Photo: vtv)

However, the impact of social context on similarities does not differ between partners, friends and acquaintances. This shows the significant impact of the opportunity to meet the social component of the personal network. With his study Mollenhorst asserted that individual networks are not formed based entirely on individual choices . These options are limited by the opportunity to meet. Another sign for this is the fact that people often choose you from a context they had previously chosen another friend. In addition, the level of acquaintance of friends also depends on the context of the meeting.

Individualism

Many sociologists think that our society is more and more personal. For example, we often distinguish between work, club and friends. Mollenhorst considers that the public context such as work or neighbors and personal context often overlap.

In addition, Mollenhorst's research shows that social networks are not as narrow as those concluded by US studies. In the 7-year period, the average size of the personal social network is quite stable, however, during those 7 years, we changed many members of the network. Only about 30% of friends and partners still have the same position 7 years later. Only about 48% remain in the network. So cherish the friends you have.

Mollenhorst's research is part of the project . Background, communication, results built by Völker. She received a Vidi grant from NWO in 2001 and used it to build the project.

Source: Dutch scientific research organization