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. 2022 Mar;13(2):562-571.
doi: 10.1177/19485506211026992. Epub 2021 Jul 12.

The Friends-to-Lovers Pathway to Romance: Prevalent, Preferred, and Overlooked by Science

Danu Anthony Stinson  1 , Jessica J Cameron  2 , Lisa B Hoplock  2
Affiliations

The Friends-to-Lovers Pathway to Romance: Prevalent, Preferred, and Overlooked by Science

Danu Anthony Stinson et al. Soc Psychol Personal Sci. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

There is more than one pathway to romance, but relationship science does not reflect this reality. Our research reveals that relationship initiation studies published in popular journals (Study 1) and cited in popular textbooks (Study 2) overwhelmingly focus on romance that sparks between strangers and largely overlook romance that develops between friends. This limited focus might be justified if friends-first initiation was rare or undesirable, but our research reveals the opposite. In a meta-analysis of seven samples of university students and crowdsourced adults (Study 3; N = 1,897), two thirds reported friends-first initiation, and friends-first initiation was the preferred method of initiation among university students (Study 4). These studies affirm that friends-first initiation is a prevalent and preferred method of romantic relationship initiation that has been overlooked by relationship science. We discuss possible reasons for this oversight and consider the implications for dominant theories of relationship initiation.

Keywords: close relationships; dating; friendship; relationship initiation; romantic relationships.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Forest plot reflecting the proportion of participants (total sample) who were friends first in each sample. Note. The squares represent each study’s estimate, with the size of the square representing the weight of the estimate and the lines representing the 95% confidence interval. The diamond represents the random effects point estimate, its width the 95% confidence interval, and the dotted vertical line represents the overall combined mean effect estimate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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