Friendships Are More Group-oriented in the UK Than in Japan

Philip Howlett; Gülseli Baysu; Tomas Jungert; Anthony P. Atkinson; Shushi Namba; Wataru Sato; Kumpei Mizuno; Magdalena Rychlowska

doi:10.1111/bjso.70040

Friendships Are More Group-oriented in the UK Than in Japan

Philip Howlett, Gülseli Baysu, Tomas Jungert, Anthony P. Atkinson, Shushi Namba, Wataru Sato, Kumpei Mizuno, Magdalena Rychlowska

Department of Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Friendship is a common and complex social bond. Among friendship practices yet to be fully understood are group- versus dyadic-oriented friendship styles, or whether people socialize with one versus multiple friends at a time. We report two studies comparing friendship styles and relational mobility among 1674 young adults (18-35 years old) in Japan and the United Kingdom. Respondents from both countries completed the Friendship Habits Questionnaire, a new measure of dyadic- versus group-oriented friendship styles. Participants also estimated their friendship group size and time spent in friendship groups versus dyads, and completed a scale of relational mobility. Participants’ group-oriented friendship style, assessed with the Friendship Habits Questionnaire, was associated with larger friendship groups and more time spent in groups, rather than dyads of friends. Compared to Japanese, participants from the UK had more group-oriented friendship styles and were more relationally mobile. Moreover, group-oriented friendship styles were associated with higher relational mobility. These findings provide insights into models of friendship and social relationships promoted across diverse cultural settings.

Original language	English
Journal	British Journal of Social Psychology
Early online date	17 Jan 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.70040
Publication status	Published - 17 Jan 2026

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/HFMA6.

Acknowledgements

We thank Konstantinos Kafetsios and Rhiannon Turner for their helpful feedback on this manuscript and Orla Muldoon and Gillian Shorter for encouragement and advice. Thank you to Sophie Horton and Kwan-Yee Li for being dedicated friends who kept the motivation going throughout this project. Thanks to Liz Hague and Quinn Hartwell for their enthusiasm, which made this work even more special. Thanks to Suzuki Sotaro for his insights in Japanese culture and keeping our long-distance friendship going. For the purpose of open access, the corresponding author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.

Funding

Author PH was awarded a funded Studentship from the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland (https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Keywords

friendship
groups
socializing
relational mobility
Culture

Access to Document

10.1111/bjso.70040Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Friendships Are More Group-oriented in the UK Than in Japan",

abstract = "Friendship is a common and complex social bond. Among friendship practices yet to be fully understood are group- versus dyadic-oriented friendship styles, or whether people socialize with one versus multiple friends at a time. We report two studies comparing friendship styles and relational mobility among 1674 young adults (18-35 years old) in Japan and the United Kingdom. Respondents from both countries completed the Friendship Habits Questionnaire, a new measure of dyadic- versus group-oriented friendship styles. Participants also estimated their friendship group size and time spent in friendship groups versus dyads, and completed a scale of relational mobility. Participants{\textquoteright} group-oriented friendship style, assessed with the Friendship Habits Questionnaire, was associated with larger friendship groups and more time spent in groups, rather than dyads of friends. Compared to Japanese, participants from the UK had more group-oriented friendship styles and were more relationally mobile. Moreover, group-oriented friendship styles were associated with higher relational mobility. These findings provide insights into models of friendship and social relationships promoted across diverse cultural settings. ",

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AU - Baysu, Gülseli

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AU - Atkinson, Anthony P.

AU - Namba, Shushi

AU - Sato, Wataru

AU - Mizuno, Kumpei

AU - Rychlowska, Magdalena

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