It is often said that friends are the family we choose, and rightly so. They are the ones who know are best and worst sides and despite this, they choose to accept and like us as we are. However, friendships take time to grow and get stronger by the day. While some people are good at making friends and being pally with everyone, others take a little longer and have only a handful of friends. But what makes some people have many friends? And what makes some friendships survive the test of time, while others don’t?
Analysing this, a recent study which was published in the Evolutionary Psychological Science identifies seven important ways in which people strengthen their relationships with friends. The study was done by Menelaos Apostolou and his team and they worked on how people used different strategies to strengthen their friendships. Their study highlighted seven main strategies that people often use:
1. Offering support
2. Increasing interaction
3. Maintaining regular communication
4. Giving gifts
5. Building trust
6. Fostering family connections
7. Expressing agreement
The study also showed that providing support to each other, especially in challenging times, was one of the main ways in which people became close friends. Some other prominent ways in which people strengthened their bonds with friends were by staying in touch and planning hangout activities together.
However, the study also showed that one’s gender, personality type and age impacted how they worked on connecting with friends and strengthening their bonds. For instance, women were more likely to use all the above seven strategies in their friendships, as compared to men. Similarly, younger people focussed more on building trust and having more interactions with others to deepen their friendships. Talking of personality types, a person who is highly agreeable with others often uses offering support to others as a way to be friends with them. While those who were more outgoing and extroverted used other strategies (of the seven mentioned above) as well to connect with their friends.
However, the study had some limitations, like: people who self-reported the results might not be accurate, and since the study was focused more on Greek-speaking populations, it may not reflect a broad result.
Which of the seven key strategies do you use to connect with your friends? Tell us in the comments box below.
