What Friendship Characteristics Are Associated With Well‐Being Among Unpartnered Individuals in the United States?

ABSTRACT This paper replicates and extends prior work that demonstrated the general importance of friendships for maintaining well‐being, with a focus on unpartnered/single individuals. Using data from two quota samples of U.S. adults ( N single2022 = 552, N single2023 = 391), we systematically examined how 10 theoretically derived characteristics of single people's friendships are associated with three aspects of well‐being (i.e., life satisfaction, loneliness, and companionship). These 10 friendship indicators were drawn from three general theoretical approaches: structural integration , perceived support availability , and communication . Replicating prior studies of single people, results showed that greater general friendship satisfaction was associated with better well‐being (i.e., lower loneliness, higher companionship, and life satisfaction) in both samples. Extending prior work, we found singles whose friendship network was more adaptable (structural integration) also reported better well‐being in both samples. Additionally, friendship dissolution (structural integration) was positively related to loneliness, and perceived support availability was positively related to companionship in both samples. Overall, our models explained 24%–36% of the variance in loneliness, companionship, and life satisfaction among single people. Findings reflect the primary importance of dynamically managing a satisfying and supportive friendship network (vs. other practices like having many friends or cultivating a close‐knit friend group) among singles.