Across 12 nations, people predominantly make friends based on shared traits, support, and socializing opportunities, with lesser emphasis on self-serving goals like career advancement or mating. This research was published in Personality & Individual Differences.
While the reasons for making friends can vary by individual, the drive to form friendships is a universal human trait. Prior research has shown that people often prioritize friendships that offer social support, compatibility, and companionship, reflecting an evolutionary need for cooperative bonds in human survival and social structures.
Historically, friendship has been seen as a way to enhance social cooperation and mutual support, especially in situations where individuals lack family support. Menelaos Apostolou and colleagues explored these motivations further by examining the potential influence of personality traits—specifically the “Dark Triad” traits (Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy)—on people’s reasons for forming friendships. Their work builds on theories suggesting that friendships can sometimes be more self-serving, like career or mating advantages, in addition to offering social support.
This study recruited 6,224 participants across 12 countries, including China, Greece, India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Mozambique, Peru, Poland, Turkey, and Ukraine. Participants, aged 18 and older, were recruited through a mix of methods tailored to each country’s context. To assess motivations for friendship, the study used a streamlined 15-item questionnaire based on an earlier, more extensive scale developed by Apostolou et al. (2021). This scale measured different motivations for friendship, such as “Compatibility and other desirable traits,” “Support,” “Socializing,” “Self-serving goals,” and “Mating.”
Participants rated each item on a 5-point Likert scale, with responses ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Participants also completed the Short Dark Triad (SD3) scale, a 27-item instrument that evaluates Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy.
Across the full sample, compatibility and desirable traits were ranked as the most important motivations, followed by support and socializing. Participants valued friendships that provided emotional support and included people with whom they could easily connect and share common values or interests. Self-serving goals, such as career advancement, and mating-related motivations were comparatively less important but still notable. This hierarchy of motivations remained relatively consistent across cultures, with slight variations: while socializing was highly valued in all countries, some countries, such as Turkey, rated self-serving goals higher than others, suggesting cultural nuances in how friendships are perceived.
The study also examined the influence of Dark Triad traits on friendship motivations. Individuals who scored higher in Machiavellianism and Narcissism placed greater importance on all reasons for making friends, particularly for self-serving goals and socializing. In contrast, higher Psychopathy scores were generally associated with a lower emphasis on most friendship motivations except for mating, where those with higher Psychopathy scores showed greater interest.
Demographic differences also emerged; women generally prioritized compatibility, support, and socializing more than men, while men emphasized self-serving goals and mating. Younger individuals valued socializing and support more than older participants, highlighting that friendship motivations might shift over the life span.
One limitation is that the study’s findings are based on self-reported data, which may be influenced by social desirability bias, particularly for self-serving motivations.
The study, “Why People Make Friends: Evidence from 12 Nations”, was authored by Menelaos Apostolou, Mark J.M. Sullman, Jessica D. Ayers, Agata Błachnio, Rajneesh Choubisa, Hesham F. Gadelrab, Tetiana Hill, Shanmukh Kamble, Yanina Lisun, Denisse Manrique-Millones, Rosa Millones-Rivalles, Yohsuke Ohtsubo, Aneta Przepiórka, Burcu Tekeş, Germano Vera Cruz, Yan Wang, Yukino Watanabe, and Arya Ghorbani.