Friendship styles and relational mobility in Japan and the UK

Background
Collectivism, in contrast to individualism, is associated with prioritizing groups over
the individual. However, friendship groups tend to differ in size across countries that
do not clearly fit within the individualism-collectivism spectrum. Relational mobility
may provide new insights into friendship group size as it reflects the perception of
certain freedoms in socializing within others in society. We examined whether
friendship group size differed in two contrasting cultures, Japan and the UK,
hypothesizing that Japan would have a larger group size. We also examined whether
friendship group size was related to relational mobility across two studies.
Methods
Across both studies, participants in Japan (n = 842) and the UK (n = 835) aged 18 -
35 year olds estimated the amount and size of friendship group interactions in a
cross-sectional survey. They also answered the Friendship Habits Questionnaire,
showing how group-oriented one's friendship style is, and the Relational Mobility
Scale. Results were analysed using correlations, t-tests and SEM.
Findings
We found that the UK reported a greater group-orientation in friendship across all
measures and in both studies. Relational mobility was consistently associated with
friendship group size. The UK also scored higher on relational mobility than Japan.
Discussion
Overall, the findings suggest that the prioritization of groups in certain cultures might
not be reflected in the structure of everyday friendships and may be due to cultures
that are continuously changing. Further insights for friendship group size may come
from exploring data in other countries.