![Study shows importance of friendship for health](https://img.passeportsante.net/1000x526/2021-01-28/i99232-amitie-meilleure-sante.jpeg)
We know that friendship can play a role in our health and well-being. American researchers wanted to know more. They looked at the cultural factors that influence how we prioritize friendship. Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, the results show that some people, such as women or the elderly, place a higher value on friendship.
Prioritizing friendships in life is associated with better health
It no longer needs to be demonstrated, prioritizing friendship is associated with many health and well-being benefits. Researchers at Columbia University and Michigan State University in the United States wanted to go further by examining the cultural moderators of the link between friendship and the health and well-being of people living in those cultures. In other words, the researchers wanted to know in what contexts can friendship be favorable and what are the cultural factors affecting it?
To do this, the specialists analyzed a sample made up of 323,200 participants from 99 countries of the World Values Survey. Scientists have thus collected a lot of data from a set of statistics on friendship, health and happiness and on cultural and economic variables. According to the study’s authors, “ this report is the most comprehensive examination to date of how cultural factors affect the importance people place on friendships and how they benefit from them “.
Who are the most important people in friendship?
Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, the study’s results confirmed that prioritizing friendships in life was associated with better health and well-being. However, certain cultural factors, whether individual or national, may interact. We learn that “ older people, women, people with a higher level of education and people living in countries with lower complacency and income inequalities place a higher value on friendship “.
The authors of the study conclude as follows: “dIn many cases, placing a high value on friendship was particularly important for health and well-being in contexts generally associated with lower well-being (for example, countries with high income inequality and individualism) . Our results underscore the importance of not only considering how much people value friendships, but also of situating social relationships within broader individual and cultural contexts. “.