Turnover in close friendships: age and gender differences

TL;DR

This study analyzes cellphone data to understand how close friendships form and dissolve across different ages and genders, revealing stability in inner circles but higher turnover among young adults.

Contribution

It provides novel insights into age- and gender-specific patterns of relationship initiation and termination over time using large-scale cellphone data.

Findings

Inner circle relationships are highly stable over three years.

1-4% of close contacts change annually, higher in 17-21 year olds.

Young women tend to end opposite-gender relationships more often.

Abstract

Humans are social animals and the interpersonal bonds formed between them are crucial for their development and well being in a society. These relationships are usually structured into several layers (Dunbar's layers of friendship) depending on their significance in an individual's life with closest friends and family being the most important ones taking major part of their time and communication effort. However, we have little idea how the initiation and termination of these relationships occurs across the lifespan. To explore this, we analyse a national cellphone database to determine how and when changes in close relationships occur in the two genders. In general, membership of this inner circle of intimate relationships is extremely stable, at least over a three-year period. However, around 1-4% of alters change every year, with the rate of change being higher among 17-21 year olds than older adults. Young adult females terminate more of their opposite-gender relationships, while older males are more persistent in trying to maintain relationships in decline. These results emphasise the variability in relationship dynamics across age and gender, and remind us that individual differences play an important role in the structure of social networks. Overall, our study provides a holistic understanding of the dynamic nature of relationships during the life-course of humans.