sciencetech-blog

comments

For most people the idea of losing friends overtime can leave them fearful of being alone in old age, but new research suggests that having fewer friends can actually make us less lonely.

A study that examined the friendships of nearly 400,000 students has shown that while the number of close friends they have on average has fallen in the past 25 years, they feel less isolated. 

Psychologists believe modern technology and the increased use of social media to interact with other people, and has led to the decline in face-to-face contact, has driven this change.

Recent studies have suggested that people have fewer close friends that they can confide in than they had in, but the latest research shows that this is not necessarily leading to people feeling lonelier

The research, conducted by psychologists at the University of Queensland in Australia, showed that loneliness among American college students has declined between 1978 and 2009.

Similarly loneliness among high school students has also declined between 1991 and 2012 as the size of their friendship groups contracted.

'People become less dependent on their families and need more specialized skills, which could lead to less interest in social support and more self-sufficiency,' said lead researcher Dr David Clark, from the University of Queensland.

'Over time, people are more individualistic, more extroverted, and have higher self-esteem.'

He added: 'The trend in loneliness may be caused by modernization.'

The findings come after a series of studies have shown that the growing use of social networking sites like Facebook has had a negative affect on the quality of people's friendships.

Other studies have suggested that people who use Facebook tend to be more isolated and lonely. Lonely people are also more likely to share more information about themselves on such sites.

A study from 2006 by sociologists at Duke also showed that on average most adults only have two people they can talk to about the most important subjects in their lives while one quarter had no close confidants at all.

This has led to predictions that society is growing increasingly lonely.

However, the latest findings, which are published in the journal of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, shows people are actually getting less lonely.

The scientists examined 48 surveys of American College Students who had completed the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, with a total of 13,041 students taking part.

Although we have close fewer friends to confide in, we seem to be more contented and modern technology may be responsible according to the to the research by psychologists at the University of Queensland

This showed that overall loneliness declined from 1978 to 2009, with female students reported lower loneliness than male college students.

The researchers also looked at the results from the Monitoring the Future project between 1991 and 2012, which surveyed US high school students about their behaviours, attitudes and values.

Overall, the high school students reported having fewer friends with whom to interact, but less desire for more friends.

Dr Clark said further research on cultures outside of the US would help determine if modernization is the root cause of the observed results. 

He said: 'If other cultures show the same pattern of reduced loneliness in the face of poorer social networks, this would support the idea that modernization is responsible.'