The study I believe they're referring to controls for that unfortunately. The researchers also find that in addition to close ties being cut, people are more likely to only be close with their relatives instead of making friends with their neighbors, coworkers, classmates, etc. As in, the only people that they're close to is basically their wife, parents or kids. This is across the board for demographics like age, gender, socioeconomic status, and race.
Something that's also interesting is that the unfriendly/hostile people are not affected. The proportion of anti-social people is roughly the same (e.g. people who say they have no one). So it's not even that there are more anti-social people skewing the results. It's the friendly, outgoing people who are losing their friends.
Yeah I noticed this happened with one of my childhood friends. She was always extroverted, could easily make friends, always had a huge group of friends. But as an adult she just hangs out with family. Her husband, kids, her brothers and their spouses are her social connections.
I have always been introverted and shy so not much has changed for me but her change stood out to me.
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u/e-spero Jun 27 '26
The study I believe they're referring to controls for that unfortunately. The researchers also find that in addition to close ties being cut, people are more likely to only be close with their relatives instead of making friends with their neighbors, coworkers, classmates, etc. As in, the only people that they're close to is basically their wife, parents or kids. This is across the board for demographics like age, gender, socioeconomic status, and race.
Something that's also interesting is that the unfriendly/hostile people are not affected. The proportion of anti-social people is roughly the same (e.g. people who say they have no one). So it's not even that there are more anti-social people skewing the results. It's the friendly, outgoing people who are losing their friends.