NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Are you good at building friendships? Here’s how to tell

By Teddy Amenabar
Washington Post·
29 Nov, 2024 09:53 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Experts say the people who are good at friends are intentional about it. Photo / 123rf

Experts say the people who are good at friends are intentional about it. Photo / 123rf

For the past 23 years, Chris Michaud has crammed a few dozen friends into his Brooklyn apartment for a version of Friendsgiving – what he now calls “Tiny Pie Day” – because all the food is bite-sized.

Michaud, 47, said the tradition started when his friend group used to hang out all the time to watch movies or play Dungeons and Dragons. Now they’re too busy for all that. Only Tiny Pie Day remains.

“It’s really the one thing we all still do,” said Michaud, who runs a travel agency planning Disney vacations. “We’re not hanging out for friends’ birthday parties because everybody is too busy planning their kids’ birthday parties.”

People often think close friendships form organically. But researchers who study relationships say the people who are the best at friendships are actually intentional about it. A Friendsgiving, like Michaud’s, is the type of gathering that strengthens these bonds.

“If we want to live a life that’s full and healthy for us, we need to figure out a way to prioritise those friends,” said Marc Schulz, a professor of psychology at Bryn Mawr and an associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Research shows close relationships are essential to a healthy life. People with a network of close, supportive relationships are better able to deal with bouts of anxiety and depression. The working theory is that close friendships help us regulate our stress during challenging moments, said Robert Waldinger, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development.

Close friends give each other support, relief or just a brief moment of levity. But Americans are spending less time with their friends and the US surgeon general has warned that loneliness – one’s perception of their social isolation – is now a threat to public health that’s akin to smoking cigarettes. It may even increase risk of dementia.

So, how can you invest in your friendships?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Friendships grow when two people regularly see each other (ideally, because they live near each other), when they bond over common interests and when they start to confide in each other, researchers say.

One of the most challenging parts of social connection is finding the time away from work and family to invest in friends.

“We have friends. We understand the value of friends,” said Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas. But “it’s very hard to prioritise the time it takes to really enjoy our friendships”.

In a study of new friendships published in 2019, Hall determined it can take more than 200 hours together for an acquaintance to become a close friend. But how you spend your time with someone and what you talk about can speed up the process.

Discover more

Lifestyle

How many friends do you really need to be happy?

06 Sep 05:00 PM
Lifestyle

'Whole heart': Charles' sweet message to public amid cancer treatment

30 Mar 01:35 AM
Lifestyle

Female friendship is getting better with age

20 Feb 06:00 AM
Lifestyle

AM's Melissa and Lloyd's friendship goes beyond the camera

17 Feb 04:00 PM

“It’s not enough to just spend a bunch of time together at work,” Hall said. “What’s usually required is a context shift.”

‘Repot’ the relationship

Change the scenery and mix up where you socialise. Repotting a friendship helps people show different sides of themselves, which deepens a bond, said Marisa G Franco, a professor at the University of Maryland and the author of Platonic: How to Make and Keep Friends As An Adult. (“Repotting” is a term first used in a report on close friendships.)

Invite a co-worker or classmate to grab lunch or join your softball team, Hall said. You’re going to start talking about your job or school because that’s a common interest, but the conversation will move along to, say, sports teams or favourite TV shows.

“That’s the process of friendship development,” Hall said. “It’s a process of saying: I want to know more about you beyond the thing we already share.”

Be vulnerable

Tell a friend what you’re struggling with, Franco said. People mirror each other in conversation. If you’re not vulnerable, the other person may also hold back.

“If you want to have more depth, you’re probably going to have to go first,” Franco said. “Vulnerability begets vulnerability.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Confiding in each other is one way to form a close relationship, said Melanie Dirks, chairwoman of the department of psychology at McGill University.

But some friends might not want to talk about their more intimate concerns, Waldinger said. And that’s fine; different friendships provide different benefits.

Tell your friends you appreciate them

People often choose relationships based on whether they believe there’s a risk of getting rejected, Franco said. When we tell someone we appreciate them, we’re saying “I’m not going to reject you”.

And Thanksgiving is already the time of year for giving thanks, Schulz said.

3 tips for being a better friend

  • Take small steps, such as texting three friends every morning and carving out time on the calendar for regular get-togethers. Waldinger and Schulz call it “social fitness”, the same as exercising regularly. “If we don’t exercise those social muscles, we lose them,” said Schulz, who co-wrote the book The Good Life with Waldinger.
  • Show up for your friends. You don’t need to say yes to every invite but it’s important to be there at “diagnostic moments”, whether it’s an engagement, a job promotion – or, a layoff or divorce, Franco said. “How our friends showed up in those moments of high emotion can really determine how we see the friendship overall,” Franco said.
  • Be a listener. It’s important to show interest and full attention to what a friend is telling you, said Rich Slatcher, a psychology professor at the University of Georgia. When someone is in need, they’re looking for a friend who is responsive. “We want to be seen and heard and understood,” Schulz said. “It’s pretty simple.”

The number of close friends a person needs to feel socially connected is subjective, Waldinger said.

You can regularly check in with yourself: Do I have someone to call when I’m worried? Do I have people to meet up with for my hobbies or other interests?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

One fact of life is most relationships wax and wane, but that’s why it’s important to continue to build friendships with the people you enjoy, Waldinger said.

People tend to have the broadest social network in their early 20s when they are not yet starting families, said Dirks. As people get older, they may have a smaller circle of friends but they still report the same satisfaction from social connections.

We can form close friendships at any age. But as life gets busier, you may need to put yourself in situations where you can meet new people.

“With friendships, we need to be more proactive and not leave things on the back burner,” Schulz said. “So, that means creating opportunities and seizing the moment.”

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Lifestyle

How to make the viral TikTok dumpling soup

07 Jun 02:00 AM
Premium
Opinion

Opinion: The case for creative excuses in the winter months

06 Jun 11:00 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

'Life-changing': The Kiwi women finding empowerment in hunting and fishing

06 Jun 09:00 PM

Why wallpaper works wonders

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

How to make the viral TikTok dumpling soup

How to make the viral TikTok dumpling soup

07 Jun 02:00 AM

It's comforting, flavourful, and super-quick.

Premium
Opinion: The case for creative excuses in the winter months

Opinion: The case for creative excuses in the winter months

06 Jun 11:00 PM
Premium
'Life-changing': The Kiwi women finding empowerment in hunting and fishing

'Life-changing': The Kiwi women finding empowerment in hunting and fishing

06 Jun 09:00 PM
Women learn hunting skills at Wild Chix weekend

Women learn hunting skills at Wild Chix weekend

BV or thrush? Know the difference
sponsored

BV or thrush? Know the difference

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search