Americans Rate Friendship as More Important Than Marriage

A new study by the Pew Research Centre has shown that the Americans are much more likely to rate friendship as a key factor to a fulfilling life than marriage. In fact, marriage was rated the least important of the factors participants were quizzed on. It’s another display of why friend finding apps have the potential to make huge impacts on millions of lives.

The survey looked at American attitudes to family units and lives. It surveyed more than 5,000 US adults in 2023, using the centre’s representative American Trends Panel. When it came to what Americans considered most important in living fulfilling lives, it is someone’s job that actually came out as the most important. Some 71 per cent believed job’s were a key factor in life fulfilment. That was closely followed by 61 per cent rating friendship as hugely important. Whereas the factors such as ‘having lots of money’, ‘being married’ and ‘having children’ all scored much lower on the survey. They all were all between 20 and 30 per cent.

Clearly what people do for a living is considered important by Americans, but not how much they make, job satisfaction is rated higher. And again – relationships are viewed as important – but from a holistic standpoint: it’s not just about that one deep romantic connection. It can often feel like our society puts a lot of pressure on how much money people make and if they are single or not. These results would suggest that people are wise to the fact that those two factors are not the be all and end all. 

We’ve seen countless reports since the pandemic really brought loneliness to light, about the positive impact friendship and community can bring to people’s lives. The positive impact became crystal clear when the pandemic took it away from us. That’s why social discovery apps and friendship finding apps have a very healthy future. We all need friends to live fulfilling lives, and technology that can help us find them and communities have huge potential.