Close friend, family circles shrink

Of those surveyed, 25 percent said they have no trusted friends.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Circles of close friends and family are shrinking for many Americans, and nearly a quarter of those responding to a survey say there is no one in whom they can confide, according to a new study.
"This change toward fewer confidants indicates something that's not good for our society," said Lynn Smith-Lovin, a professor of sociology at Duke University and one of the authors of the report published in the American Sociological Review.
That's because, she said: "Ties with a close network of people create a safety net. These ties also lead to civic engagement and local political action."
Comparing statistics from 1985 and 2004, researchers at Duke and the University of Arizona found that the percentage of people surveyed who felt they had no trusted friends has more than doubled to almost 25 percent.
For the rest of the respondents, the average number of confidants has declined by nearly a third -- from almost three to barely two for each person.
The face-to-face survey of 1,467 people over 18 also found that the percentage of people who say they only talk to family members about important matters has risen from 57 percent to nearly 80 percent, while the number of people who say they depend totally on their spouse has gone from about 5 percent to nearly 9 percent.
Who did research
The data came from the General Social Survey, a long-running survey of social, cultural and political issues that's been done by the University of Chicago since 1972, with various topics rotated periodically. The last time questions about confidants were asked was in 1985.
The study portrays Americans' social contacts as a "densely connected, close, homogeneous set of ties slowly closing in on itself, becoming smaller, more tightly connected, more focused on the very strong bonds of the nuclear family."
That means fewer contacts created through clubs, neighbors and organizations outside the home, a sociological phenomenon labeled "bowling alone" from a 2000 book by the same title by Robert Putnam.
The study also showed that the size of social networks is linked to a person's educational level and race. Nonwhites tend to have smaller networks than whites. Black men older than 60, in particular, have seen their circles shrink from an average of 3.8 in 1985 to 1.8 in 2004, the survey showed.
People with more education also have larger networks than people with less education, though the number of contacts has declined for the college-educated as well.
Reasons why
Researchers speculate that changes in communities and families -- such as longer commutes, longer hours at work and the influence of Internet communication -- may have contributed to the decline in the size of close circles of friends and relatives.
"We were surprised to see such a large change. We remain cautious, perhaps even skeptical, of its size. It's unusual to see very large social changes like this that aren't tied to some type of demographic shift in the population," said Miller McPherson, a sociology professor at both Duke and Arizona who co-authored the study.
"But even if the change is exaggerated for some reason ... we are confident there is a trend toward smaller, closer social networks more centered on spouses and partners."
It is possible that topics people define as "important" may have changed in 19 years, or that people don't feel e-mailing or even talking on a cell phone amounts to "discussing" an important topic.
Research also shows that Americans generally belong to fewer groups and that the amount of time they spend with clubs, churches and other organizations has waned.
"Group membership is very important in creating ties to people outside the family," Smith-Lovin said. "But those ties may be more superficial now. If people spend less time in groups, they may talk to people, but just about matters that involve the club, and they may be less likely to share personal troubles or triumphs with them."