{"id":3268402,"date":"2025-02-11T13:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T18:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/?p=3268402"},"modified":"2025-02-11T13:43:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T18:43:00","slug":"friends-relationships-commitment-3268402","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/friends-relationships-commitment-3268402\/","title":{"rendered":"Your friends likely agree when you’re ready for love"},"content":{"rendered":"
A new study finds that friends significantly agreed on who was ready for committed relationships\u2014and who wasn’t.<\/p>\n
The study in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships<\/em><\/a>\u00a0showed that friends who were perceived to be less ready for a committed relationship were also seen to be more insecure in their relationships. People with an insecure attachment style have elevated levels of anxiety and\/or avoidance.<\/p>\n The researchers collected data from nearly 800 people embedded in friend groups. Participants reported on their own readiness for relationships, their friends’ readiness, and their friends’ attachment styles. This round-robin research design is one of only a few that focuses on young adult friends.<\/p>\n “Friendships affect so many parts of our life\u2014not just our health<\/a> and happiness, but also our romantic prospects. Friends can constrain or facilitate who we date. They can also help our romantic relationships flourish or subtly and not-so-subtly undermine them,” says William Chopik, an associate professor in Michigan State University’s psychology department and coauthor of the study.<\/p>\n “Judgments of readiness likely explain all sorts of reasons why friends help and hurt<\/a> our chances of finding love.”<\/p>\n The researchers hope that the findings may offer insights for young adults navigating romance and encourage them to have open communication with their peers to better foster healthy relationships.<\/p>\n “Friends play a key role in forming and maintaining romantic relationships, from introductions to advice. However, there is rarely a chance to know how they perceive us,” says Hyewon Yang, a psychology doctoral candidate.<\/p>\n “I hope this study offers a holistic understanding of commitment readiness from a social network perspective, while emphasizing the vital role of friends in pursuing, developing<\/a>, and maintaining romantic relationships.”<\/p>\n