What Friend Groups Look Like by Generation

Does age, gender, or ethnic identity say anything about how we form friendships? According to Pew Research Center, a few trends stick out. Pew asked questions about who we define as close friends in a survey conducted over the summer to about 5,000 adults from the US. Some highlights:

• 53% of adults reported having one to four close friends, while a significant number (38%) are having larger brunch dates, with five or more; 8% of respondents had no close friends.
• Being older tends to widen that friend group. Adults 65 and up were more likely (49%) to have five or more close friends than other age cohorts, while those under 30 kept it tighter, at 32%.
• The majority (66%) said they were more likely to have close friends of the same gender, with more women defining their close friends as exclusively girl squad (71% vs. 61% for men).
• Older generations, though, were less likely to say their friends were of an opposite gender. 74% of women and 59% of men 50 years and older were more likely to say their friends shared their gender (the study did not note if non-binary options were included).
• The majority of respondents (63%) said their friend group was all the same race, but less so in younger generations; 53% of adults under 30 reported that their friends shared race or ethnicity.
• White adults (70%) were less likely to have diverse friend groups than other racial/ethnic groups. Black (62%), Asian (52%), and Hispanic (47%) adults defined their friendships as sharing the same race.
• The good news is, people are pretty happy in their friendships. 72% of Americans with at least one close friend were completely or very satisfied with the relationship.
• People 50 and older were the most pleased with their friendships (77% vs. 67% for younger adults), and strength might be in numbers. Those with more close friends said they were more satisfied with those relationships (81% with five or more friends, 65% with one to four friends).

Read the full survey results here. (Or read more friendship stories).