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RELATIONSHIPS
Most of Us Value Friendships
But, which ones last?
A friendship recently ended; I will admit it was probably my fault. I live in my head too much these days and don’t always pay close enough attention to those around me. And as a political nerd I have been really focused on the political chaos and tend to strongly voice my opinions even when I shouldn’t. I do feel bad my actions caused the split because it was not something I wanted to end.
However, as usually happens with me, my mind turned to analyzing the different types of friendships people have over the years. After all, I have had a lot of friends in my 71 years from living in six different states.
I can tally numerous friends over the years, yet when I am honest with myself there are less than five with whomI share a real emotional attachment. Is that normal, I ask? Data geek that I am, I went searching for some stats.
Statistically, 53 percent of adults say they have between one and four close friends while 38 percent say they have five or more. And sadly, there are 8 percent who say they have no friends at all. There are other statistics where the numbers might be slightly different, but close enough to the one above. Another study looks at number of friends over a lifetime. This study says we have just 29 close friends…
