Younger people and people with higher subjective SES experience more negative effects of the pandemic on their friendships

Friendships are important for social support and mental health, yet social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic has limited people’s ability to interact with their friends during this time. In August 2020, we asked participants about their friendships during the pandemic as part of a larger longitudinal study. We found that younger people and people with higher subjective SES reported more negative effects on their friendships as a result of the pandemic, including feeling lonelier and less satisfied with their friends. We also found that feelings of stress, isolation, and guilt were associated with greater COVID-related social risk taking, such as being motivated to make new friends and visit friends in person. These results show that the pandemic is likely affecting friendships differently across demographic groups and suggest that the negative impacts of COVID-19 on friendships might motivate some COVID-related social risk taking in order to try to maintain friendships or build new ones.