[Infowarrior] - Half Of Your Friends Lost In Seven Years, Social Network Study Finds

[Richard Forno]

Half Of Your Friends Lost In Seven Years, Social Network Study Finds

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090527111907.htm

ScienceDaily (May 27, 2009) — Had a good chat with someone recently?  
Has a good friend just helped you to do up your home? Then you will be  
lucky if that person still does that in seven years time. Sociologist  
Gerald Mollenhorst investigated how the context in which we meet  
people influences our social network. One of his conclusions: you lose  
about half of your close network members every seven years.

You are stuck with your family but you can choose your friends.  
Really? For years sociologists have argued to what extent personal  
networks are the result of your own preferences or the context in  
which you can meet someone. Would your best friend have been your best  
friend if you had not been in the same class for three years? And if  
you had not got to know your wife via mutual friends but in a dodgy  
bar then would she still have become and remained your wife?

In order to answer such questions, Mollenhorst conducted a survey  
under 1007 people aged between 18 and 65 years. Seven years later the  
respondents were contacted once again and 604 people were  
reinterviewed. They answered questions such as: Who do you talk with,  
regarding important personal issues? Who helps you with DIY in your  
home? Who do you pop by to see? Where did you get to know that person?  
And where do you meet that person now?

Limited in your choices

Mollenhorst investigated, for example, whether the social context in  
which contacts are made influences the degree of similarity between  
partners, friends and acquaintances. It was expected that the  
influence of social contexts on similarity in relationships would be  
stronger for weak relationships than for strong ones. After all, you  
are less fussy about your choice of acquaintances than your choice of  
partner. In relationships with partners, Mollenhorst indeed found more  
similarity than in relationships with friends. Yet interestingly, the  
influence of the social context on similarity did not differ between  
partners, friends and acquaintances. This reveals how strongly  
opportunities to meet influence the social composition of personal  
networks.

With his research Mollenhorst has confirmed that personal networks are  
not formed solely on the basis of personal choices. These choices are  
limited by opportunities to meet. Another strong indication for this  
came from the fact that people often choose friends from a context in  
which they have previously chosen a friend. Moreover, the extent to  
which our friends know each other strongly depends on the context in  
which people meet each other.

Individualism

Many sociologists assume that our society is becoming increasingly  
individualistic. For example, it is held that we strictly separate  
work, clubs and friends. Mollenhorst established, however, that public  
contexts such as work or the neighbourhood and private contexts  
frequently overlap each other.

Furthermore, Mollenhorst's research reveals that networks are not  
shrinking, whereas American research reveals such a decline. Over a  
period of seven years the average size of personal networks was found  
to be strikingly stable. However, during the course of seven years we  
replace many members of our network with other people. Only thirty  
percent of the discussion partners and practical helpers still held  
the same position seven years later. Only 48 percent were still part  
of the network. Therefore value the friends you have. As long as you  
have them that is.

Gerald Mollenhorst's research is part of the project "Where friends  
are made. Contexts, Contacts, Consequences," set up by Beate Völker.  
She received a Vidi grant from NWO in 2001 and used this to set up her  
project.