Data Spotlight: British bonds - Exploring dynamics of friendship in Great Britain

Ahead of Friendship Day, we’re exploring YouGov data to see what Britons feel about friends and friendships - and whether their relationship status has any bearing at all on their attitudes towards friendships.

In this piece, we’re looking at friendship-related attitudes among two groups of people – singletons and committed Brits (those who are either married, in a civil partnership, in a relationship or living with a partner).

According to data from YouGov Profiles, which covers demographic, psychographic, attitudinal and behavioural consumer metrics, similar proportions of single (88%) and committed (90%) Brits agree that when it comes to friends, quality triumphs over quantity. Both these groups are also in consensus over making friends based on common interests and values (78% of single Brits, 76% of committed Brits).

But single Brits are slightly more likely (68%) to aim at being a trusted resource for their friends, than committed Brits (a significant 64% nonetheless).

Friendship groups are an important part of life for significant proportions of both, single and committed Britons. However, the former are more likely to claim the same (68% of singletons and 65% of committed Brits).

There’s a difference of opinion between both groups of British adults. Over a third of single Britons (36%) envy the lifestyle of their friends – something less than a quarter (23%) of committed Britons do. For nearly a quarter of unpartnered individuals (24%) friends are more important to them than their families - a sentiment echoed by less than one in five (16%) partnered individuals in Great Britain.

Moving on to demographic data, we see that women surpass men in Great Britain on agreeing with several YouGov attitudinal statements:

• Being a trusted resource for my friends is one of my main goals (women 69%, men 62%).
• When it comes to friends, I prefer quality over quantity (91% women vs. 87% men)

However, men are more likely than women (20% vs. 16%) to say friends are more important to them than family.

Also read: Exploring what Americans think about friendship

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Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for Great Britain is nationally representative of the online population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles. 

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